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THE
VELOCIPEDE;
ITS
HISTORY, VARIETIES, AND PRACTICE
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS.
NEW YORK:
PUBLISHED BY HURD AND HOUGHTON.
Cambridge: Riverside Press.
1869.
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Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by
J. T. Goddard,
in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
RIVERSIDE, CAMBRIDGE:
STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BY
H. O. HOUGHTON AND COMPANY.
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PREFACE
When the rumor first came across the water, afew years ago, of that wonderful and fascinatinglittle two-wheeled machine, upon which one couldso gracefully annihilate time and space, the authorof this little book was seized with his first attack ofVelocipede Fever.
When, in the spring of 1868, we heard how popularthis invention was becoming in France, howmuch it was ridden in Paris; in its Boulevards, itsBois de Boulogne, and on the smooth paths of theChamps Elysées; how it was employed for amusementin the Garden of the Tuileries, and by thelaborer in the suburbs going to his daily toil; howexhilarating to the gentleman, how useful to the messengerand post-boy, we were again seized with thedisease with renewed virulence.
We could hardly delay for one from across theAtlantic, and embraced the first opportunity to learnthe art of riding. While learning, with bruised elbowsand scraped knees, with the bicycle more ofthe time on us than we on it, we felt how usefully[Pg iv]we could employ a few hints of instruction, and howinvaluable we should find some little book that wouldtell us all about the machine.
After we were somewhat proficient, we wereamazed that we had not learned before, and sawhow easily we could have done so, if we had onlybeen a little informed of the method of procedure.
When we proposed purchasing, we were all adrift,as likely to buy a poor machine as a good one, andanxiously scanned the papers, and inquired of friendsconcerning the merits and demerits of each patentand make.
So far as we can learn, there has been no bookwritten upon the Velocipede, either abroad or in thiscountry.
It is the design of this little work, not only to givea few simple directions to guide the beginner, but togive the history of the machine from its first origin,to treat accurately and impartially of the strength,lightness, superiority, and inferiority of each importantmachine and patent, and to collect such facts,statistics, and items, as may be of use and informationto any one interested in the subject.
We think it an invention which will not have anephemeral popularity, but which will, in its way, revolutionizetravel for all time. We love the velocipede,and can tr