PELOTOME

1869 – published in 1870

The Bicycle – Its Use and Action.

Famous ex-champion London gymnast Charles Spencer’s pioneering illustrated practical guide on how to ride “the latest and best form of Velocipede, ‘the bicycle’, includes “London to Brighton by ‘Velocipede’,” a four page account (originally published in The Times, on 19th February 1869) of his journey with Mr. John Mayall, “the son of the well-known photographer,” and Mr. Turner, “an expert Velocipedist from Paris.”

Spencer was already the celebrated author of “The Modern Gymnast” handbook and would later team up with Messr. Snoxell to import and improve the “best Paris model of the new two-wheel velocipede.”

• by Charles Spencer.
• Published by Frederick Warne and Co., London.

1869 – published in 1870

Wheels and Woes, or Words of Warning to Would-be Velocipedists.

This delightful little book “which unites instruction and merriment” includes a chapter wonderfully detailing the author’s three day, 107 mile (171 km) “experimental very long journey” with his companion on their 36 inch wheelers – from Lewes to Salisbury, via Arundel and Southampton – made in the Autumn of 1869, following the “Velocipede agitation” of Britain’s first ever Velocipede Derby at the Crystal Palace in May 1869.

• by a Light Dragoon (Charles Wyndham).
• with illustrations by the author.
• Published by Ward, Lock and Tyler, London.

1873 – published in 1876

The Modern Bicycle.

This updated version of Charles Spencer’s pioneering book from 1869, “containing instructions for beginners; choice of a machine; hints on training; road book for England, Wales, &c, &c,” was part of “Warne’s Useful Books” series and, together with a comprehensive list of routes and mileage, includes an 18 page chapter providing “the detailed account of the trip from London to John o’ Groats, the longest on record which has ever been undertaken,” in June 1873, by four members of the Middlesex Bicycle Club over fourteen days, and an estimated 800 miles (“a very moderate estimate when the winding of the roads is taken into consideration, to say nothing of the continual ascents”).

• by Charles Spencer.
• with practical illustrations.
• published by Frederick Warne and Co., London.

Nov 1874.

Arcadian Walks and Drives in the North-West Part of London.

An early guide to 42 routes “for the pedestrian, carriage, horse, and bicycle” – stretching from Kensal Green to Edgware and Harrow -from W. Alfred Johnson, Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians in Edinburgh. Although marketed to bicyclists, its contents are mainly for walkers looking to improve their health by escaping the city centre to what was then countryside, with the note that “the carriage or bicycle can usually pass along much of the route mentioned in these pages by continuing the road where the pedestrian enters the field, the footpath usually being but a shorter way to the village or town.”

• by W. Alfred Johnson
• Printed by Emily Faithfull, London.

Dec 1874.

Bicycling; Its Rise and Development.

“A text book for riders” aimed to cater for the rapidly developing bicycle movement by filling the void, after early books about the wooden wheeled machine had become valueless. With numerous illustrations to assist the beginner, the book is packed with informative chapters on routes in England, Ireland, Scotland, Switzerland, The Battlefields of 1870, Upper Rhine, Belgium, Germany, Holland, and France – each highlighting the points of interest, hotels, museums, mileage, gradients and road conditions along the way,

• Published by Tinsley Bros., London.

1877 – with later editions in 1878 & 1879

The Bicycle Annual for 1877.

With British maps and routes – complete with mileages and a description of the state of the road – and an important review of the previous year, the weekly Bicycling Times magazine’s annual release arrogantly boasted by its third edition, in 1879, that “its success last year was simply unprecedented in bicycling literature. It would be in the worst taste to refer to the fact that the only rival to this publication [Alfred Howard’s “The Bicycle for…” guide] will not this year appear, having fairly been run off the field.”

• Edited by C.W. Nairn & C.J. Fox Junior.
• Published by Bicycling Times Office, London.

August 1879 – Published in June 1881

A Bicycle Tour in England and Wales.

“Made in 1879, by the President, Alfred D. Chandler, and Captain, John C. Sharp Jr., of the Suffolk Bicycle Club, of Boston, Massachusetts.” this account of an American’s adventures with his friend on a trip to Britain originally appeared in four editions of the “Bicycling World” magazine (January and February, 1881), before being released as a book. Travelling from London to Portsmouth and the Isle of White, then northwards to Burton-on-Trent, Manchester, Leeds and North Wales, it offers a valuable insight to their life on the road, with many black and white photographs of the places visited – although sadly none of the two cyclists or their bikes – and even includes a chapter tackling the question of the time: “Is Bicycle Riding Healthy?”

• by Alfred Dupont Chandler.
• published by A. Williams & Co., Boston.

1880 – revised and renamed in 1881 and 1891.

The Bicycle Road Book.

Famous gymnast and author of the pioneering 1869 book “The Bicycle – Its Use and Action”, Charles Spencer, returned in 1880 with yet another influential guide, “compiled for the use of bicyclists and pedestrians. Being a complete guide to the roads of England, Scotland, and Wales, giving the best hotels, population of the towns &c.” It was an improvement on his 1876 guide “The Modern Bicycle” with more than 130 routes in England and Wales, and a further five in Scotland, plus the Isle of Man and Isle of Wight, indexing over 5,000 towns, listing principal hotels, distances and directions for cyclists to follow.

Following the introduction of the tricycle, a new and revised edition appeared in April 1881, and again ten years later, as “The Cyclists’ Road Book: compiled for the use of bicyclists, tricyclists and pedestrians.“

• by Charles Spencer.
• Published by Griffith and Farran, London.

May 1880 – Published Dec 1880.

Icycles of the Wheel World.

“The Xmas Annual” of The Wheel World magazine contains a treasure trove of information about the state of cycling in 1880, including the eight page chapter “Whitsuntide Wanderings of a Wharfdale Wheelman” which details the one day journey from Leeds to London in Spring 1880; “A Deaf and Dumb Ghost” tells the story of a ghost at the Red Lion pub in Handcross on the Brighton to London ride; while “The Incident” details a humorous misunderstanding on a summer 1879 ride from Bonar Bridge in the Scottish Highlands; “A Circular Trip” gives a brief account of a 103 mile day ride from Chichester to Winchester, returning via Southampton. The section “What to Eat, Drink, and Avoid” provides an insight into the isotonics of the day; “a small quantity of Liebig’s extract of beef in a quarter of a pint of warm water is very good, with some stale bread in it, and is very portable”, while “a pint of Bass or Guinness will be appreciated at dinner, and a glass of old port afterwards is not amiss.”

• edited by Lacy Hillier and Harry Etherington.
• published by H. Etherington, London.

June 1880 – Published in Dec 1880.

Nauticus on His Hobby Horse.

“Or the adventures of a sailor during a tricycle cruise of 1427 miles” was the humorous log book from “Nauticus”, the nom de plume of Charles Edward Reade, a 38 year old Royal Navy Commander on extended shore leave pedalling around Edwardian England.

Covering 689 miles on a Coventry Machinists Co. Rotary tricycle from Liverpool to Margate, via The Lake District and Yorkshire Dales, in June and July, 1880, he would continue on a “superior tricycle” (possibly a Coventry “Club”, based on an illustration on the front cover) for 442 miles to Land’s End in September and October, before a third trip took him from 296 miles from Margate to Burghley House, near Peterborough, in the same month.

• by Nauticus (Charles Edward Reade).
• published by William Ridgway, London.

June 1882 – revised in 1883, 1884 and 1889.

The Roads of England and Wales.

One of the most important books ever published in the history of bicycle touring, and far more in depth than Charles Spencer’s road books, “an itinerary for cyclists, tourists, and travellers; containing an original description of the contour and surface with mileage of the main (district and principal cross) roads in England and Wales, and part of Scotland; particularly adapted to the use of bicyclists and tricyclists; together with topographical notes of the chief cities and towns; also a list of hotels and inns in each town, suitable for cyclists“ was the work of Charles Howard, a member of both the Wanderers’ Bicycle Club (of Clapham Common) and the Bicycle Touring Club (renamed the Cyclists’ Touring Club in 1883 to take into account the popularity of the tricycle, particularly with women, who were unable to ride the “Ordinary” high bicycle).

Based on the “Paterson’s Roads” coaching guide of 1826 – which had become obsolete due to the introduction of the steam train – , it was a large book originally published in June 1882 and, by May 1884, four editions had already been released. A fifth and final corrected edition of the original book would be published in March 1889. The book would also spawn the cheaper and smaller pocket-sized “The Handy Route Book of England and Wales”, in 1885, with “An Itinerary and Road Book of Scotland” following in 1887.

• by Charles Howard (of the Cyclists’ Touring Club).
• originally published by Letts, Son & Company, London.
• 1889 edition published by Mason & Payne, London.

June 1882 – published in 1883.

Nauticus in Scotland.

Charles “Nauticus” Reade returned with his second humorous log book, which was also partly published in the Boy’s Own Paper, “A Tricycle Tour of 2,642 Miles : Including Skye & the West Coast” – on his new rear-stearing Cheylesmore tricycle. Starting in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in June 1882, he cycled through Northumberland to Alnwick and Berwick-on-Tweed, then on to Crieff; from where he made a circular tour to Stonehaven, before embarking on a 42 day tour of Scotland; heading as far north as John O’Groats, before returning to Penrith.

• by Nauticus (Charles Edward Reade).
• published by Simpkin, Marshall & Co., London.

August 1884 – published in July 1885.

A Canterbury Pilgrimage.

Described by the Daily News as “the most wonderful shillingsworth that modern literature has to offer,” the first published illustrated book from London-based American tricyclist Elizabeth Rose Pennell and her artist husband Joseph Pennell, saw the couple pay homage to Chaucer’s 14th Century collection, “The Canterbury Tales”. by retracing the 70 mile route, over three days, from Russell Square in London to Canterbury Cathedral on a Coventry Rotary high-wheel tandem tricycle.

• by Joseph and Elizabeth Rose Pennell.
• Published by Seeley and Company, London.

April 1885 – Published 1887.

Around the World on a Bicycle.

“From San Francisco to Teheran” was the first illustrated volume of 29 year old English immigrant Tom Steven’s pioneering ride around the globe. The book covers the first half of the novice rider’s journey on his fifty-inch Pope “Columbia” high-wheeler, with a handlebar bag containing socks, a spare shirt, a raincoat that doubled as a tent and bedroll, and a pocket revolver.

Leaving California, on 22nd April, 1884, he became the first person to cycle across America and sailed from New York to Liverpool, arriving in England on 9th April 1885, making his way to London through Stone, Birmingham, Coventry, Dunchurch, Fenny Stratford, and Berkhamstead – where he had been born. Accompanied by A.J. “Faed” Wilson, he then cycled through Croydon, and Brighton on his way to Newhaven, from where he sailed to Dieppe and continued alone through Europe and the Middle East, eventually arriving in Tehran, Iran, on September 30th, 1885, where he stopped for winter as guest of the Shah,

• By Thomas Stevens.
• Published by Sampson, Lowe, Marston, Searle and Rivington, London.

June 1885.

The Handy Route Book of England and Wales. Part 1: – Southern England.

Also known as “Letts’s Route Book”, the cheaper and smaller pocket-sized version of Charles Howard’s more elaborate road book “being a complete key to the main (direct and cross) roads in England and Wales; useful for all road travellers, cyclists, tourists, and pedestrians; with a list of the hotels and inns in each town“ was originally set to be released in three parts, as cyclists “‘doing’ Southern England, would not necessarily require to be also burdened with the guides to the roads of Northern England, or even of Middle England, and vice versa.” Released in June 1885, the publishing house would fall into liquidation a few months after releasing the first instalment, “Southern England, South of and inclusive of the line of the Bath and Bristol road.” A second edition was published in 1886 by cycling map specialists, Mason & Payne.

• by Charles Howard.
• published by Letts, Son & Company, London.
• second edition by Mason & Payne, London.

July 1885 – Published October 1887.

Wanderings: On Wheel and On Foot in Europe.

Setting out from Glasgow on the 3rd July, 1886, and cycling to Edinburgh to catch the steamer to Hamburg, Hugh Callan details his 1,500 mile, 33 day journey “on wheel down Europe from the German ocean to the Aegean Sea”, on a Singer “British Challenge” high-wheeler to Athens, Greece.

The second part of the book is dedicated to his earlier July 1885 trip from Carlisle “through Penrith and Appleby… east over the Westmoreland moors into Yorkshire” to Hull – and then 1,100 miles “on wheel up the Rhine Valley, from Amsterdam to Geneva, and back by Antwerp,” occupying 23 days, while Part Three follows his six week walking tour “‘on the tramp’ in Belgium and France,” in 1881.

• By Hugh Callan.
• Published by Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, London.

September 1885 – published November 1886.

Land’s End to John o’ Groats on a Tricycle.

“Being a full account of Mr. T.R. Marriott’s marvellous ride“ written by Tom Moore, a member of the Sutton Bicycle Club and the editor of the Tricycling Journal. Captain of the Nottingham Bicycle Club, T.R. Marriott’s 1885 ride “from one end of the kingdom to the other”, on a Marriott & Cooper “Humber” tricycle, had smashed all records, covering the 900 miles in 6 days, 15 hours and 22 minutes.

Obviously familiar with the route, Tom Moore had also accompanied J. H. Adams, “the well-known Facilist”, of the Lewisham Bicycle Club, on the same route a year earlier, in 1884. The ‘Facile’ was the first ‘safety bicycle’ produced, albeit still a form of “high-wheeler” but with a smaller front wheel (36″–42″) than the ‘ordinary’ or ‘penny farthing’ (50″-56″).

• by Tom Moore.
• printed by H. Etherington, London.
• (image, of the Humber Tricycle not from book).

1888.

The Handy Route Book of England and Wales. Part 2: – Middle England.

Almost immediately following the release of “Part 1 – Southern England“, Letts, Son & Co. publishing house went into liquidation, and it wasn’t until three years later that the second instalment of Charles Howard’s pocket-sized version of his route book appeared with a new home for “Middle England (with Wales), North of and inclusive of the Bath and Bristol road. up to and inclusive of an irregular line, drawn from the mouth of the River Mersey to the Wash, and running through Liverpool, Warrington, Manchester, Sheffield, Mansfield, Newark, Sleaford and Boston.”

• by Charles Howard.
• published by Mason & Payne, London.
• (image, left, from Part 1, second edition)

June 1888 – Published May 1924.

Trips to Hell.

“And other countries” was George Thayer’s 564 page insightful follow-up to his 1886 “Pedal and Path” ride across America. Aged 71 at the time of publication in 1924 – some four years before his death – it followed his many trips around every corner of the globe, mainly taken between 1912 and 1922 on foot, train and boat, however it also includes brief accounts of his bicycle rides in 1888 and 1897 through Britain, Europe and Canada.

As well as briefly detailing his route in June 1888, “in making a pilgrimage to the birthplace of the Darwinian theory and approaching English soil from the north, over the hills of Scotland,” he mainly focuses on his disdain for the English, the politics of the country and its relationship with the U.S.A., especially during the Civil War, slavery, Prohibition, and British colonisation; commenting that he “yelled with joy when the Alabama was finally sent to the bottom by the Kearsage off Cherbourg,” and how he “read with rage that Captain Semmes and his confederate crew were all saved from also going to the bottom by the sympathetic conduct of the British.”

His 1888 cycle passed through the Northumberland village of Kirkwhelpington, to “Durham, York, Lincoln, Peterborough, Ely, all cathedral towns,” and “the troubled waters of Stratford-on-Avon,” while he returned in July 1914 for a walking tour of The Lake District, also taking in Liverpool and Windsor.

• By George B. Thayer.
• Published by Case, Lockwood & Brainard, Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.A.

May 1889 – Published 1890.

Round About The World on Bicycles.

“The pleasure tour of G.W. Burston and H.R. Stokes, Melbourne Bicycle Club, Australia,” follows George Burston and Harry Stokes on their 56-inch high-wheel bicycle journey around the world, setting off from Melbourne, on 1st November 1888, arriving back in Australia on the 14th December 1889.

The English section of their journey – the most extensive part of their trip – was chronicled in The Australasian, on 15th February, 1st, 8th, 16th March, 12th April, 3rd and 24th May 1890.

Arriving in London on a steamer from Rotterdam. they spent a week exploring the city’s sights, including the largest brewery in the world (now Bankside), and the trooping of the colours on Queen Victoria’s 70th birthday (24th May, 1889) – “a great disappointment.”

They caught a train to Epsom for the Derby horse race (5th June), returning via Clapham Common to watch the crowds arriving back afterward, before mounting their bicycles “for a ride over old England.”

Their cycle took them through Staines and the spot where King Charles signed the Magna Carta, Windsor, Eton, Maidenhead, Great Marlow, Henley, and Oxford – “the great seat of learning,”

After spending the morning “rowing on the Isis”, they “pedalled off northwards to Woodstock—a pretty little town centuries old,” – and through Burford, Lechdale, “and over some beautiful hilly country to Swindon,” \Wootton Bassett. Chippenham, Bath. and Bristol.

Catching the train through the tunnel under the River Severn (opened in 1886), they “then rode through hilly but delightfully timbered country, passing en route several old ruined abbeys,” in the Wye Valley – “celebrated for picturesqueness” – taking in Tintern Abbey, and Goodrich Castle, on their way to Hereford, Shrewsbury, and Chester.

Next, they headed for Birkenhead, crossed the Mersey to Liverpool, and continued north to Garstang, Lancaster, and Kendal – “a delightful old town, and is considered the entrance to the finest scenery England possesses, viz., the lakes.”

Entering The Lake District they rode to Windermere and Low Wood, where they “took an excursion steamer for a four-hours’ cruise around the largest lake that England lays claim to,” before continuing through Ambleside, Rydal, Grasmere. Keswick, “which is right among the mountains,” Ireby, and Carlisle.

Somewhere on route to Langholm, they “crossed an imaginary line, leaving England behind, and entering on the land of cakes and whisky” for a tour of Scotland before returning to Carlisle from Gretna Green, in the last week of June 1889.

Heading south to Appleby-in-Westmorland – “a pretty place; but then all Cumberland is too pretty from a cyclist’s point of view,” – they passed thorugh Brough, and Darlington, before reaching “the great North Road, along which so many crack English wheelmen have made the famous records from John o’ Groat’s to Land’s End, and well they might, for the surface is like that of a billiard-table,”

At Ripon, they made a walk to Fountain’s Abbey – “the best ruin we have seen in England,” and “Altogether this spot is one of the finest of the many charming places in the English counties.” – before continuing their ride to Boroughbridge, York, and Tadcaster, “celebrated for beer production,” although, they pointed out, that other than the “unparalleled” London stout, “it may be stated that the draught ale you get in the country, as far as our tastes are concerned, is a fraud, save in exceptional cases.”

Passing through the heavy industrial towns of Leeds, Huddersfield, Stocksbridge and Sheffield, with their factories and smoking chimneys, they continued south to Chesterfield, Derby and Burton-on-Trent, where “the whole town is engaged in beer production, and a teetotaller would have a bad time of it there.”

Lichfield, Birmingham, Stonebridge and Meriden, “the true centre of England”, were all passed on the way to Coventry, “the hub of English cycling”, where they visited the Singer factory. before they continued on through Rugby, Northampton, Bedford, St Neots, and Cambridge – “a beautiful place”.

It’s not made clear if they travelled back to London by bicycle or train, nor how they made an excursion to Southampton and the Isle of White.

In London, they attended an amateur cycle race at Crystal Palace, where, on 6th July 1889, they also sat next to royalty at a firework display made by the Prince and Princess of Wales (later King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra), in honour of a visit by the Shah of Persia.

On the 7th July, they rented a boat from Salter (in Oxford), “for a 90-mile row down the River Thames, which is supposed by everyone to be the finest thing to do in England,” taking in Henley just two days after the Regatta, the water still being littered with “remnants of the gay time in the way of floating ‘deadheads’— i.e., fizz bottles” – before continuing on to Windsor Castle, Runnymede, and Kingston upon Thames.

After a few weeks in Paris, Brussels and Berlin without their bicycles, they then “hurried back to old England, in order to be present at the great annual outing of English wheelmen,” held in Harrogate (2nd – 7th August, 1889), cycling from London to Market Harborough, and Lincoln, along the way.

Their cycle then took them through Colne, passing “some beautiful spots and antiquated places” on their way through Manchester, Knutsford, and Northwich, crossing into Wales at the fine old town of Chester,”

After a month exploring Ireland and Wales, they returned to England in September on the train from Cardiff to Bristol, continuing their cycle “up the Mendip Hills, and from thence along good undulating roads to Cheddar, of cheese-making fame,” and on through Wells, Taunton, Wellington – “a small town, from which the old Duke took his title,” – Tiverton, Exeter, Crockenwell, and Okehampton,

Tackling “severe,” hills, which “although not very long, they are uncommonly steep,” they “skirted along the side of the Dartmoor forest range,” to Lydford, Tavistock, and Plymouth, where they “saved a day” by catching the train to Newquay.

Cycling on to Redruth, Hayle, Penzance, the Logan Rock, Land’s End, and Sennen, again they “stole a march to save time,” by taking the train back to Plymouth (from Penzance). and continuing their ride through Plympton, Totnes, Torquay, Newton Abbot, Teignmouth, Dawlish, Exmouth, and Budleigh Salterton, from where they “toiled up a tremendous hill, with a Cyclists’ Touring Club danger board on the summit, pointing both ways.”

Dropping down to Sidmouth, “between two of the most dangerous hills a cyclist could venture on”, they one they ascended “after passing through the town was worse than a step- ladder, and it seemed almost an impossibility for a single horse to pull up an empty cart.”

They had a chance encounter in Bridport with a gentleman they recognised from somewhere. – “It turned out to be Dr. Robertson, who had kindly carried our camera from Damascus to Beyrout.” – and they pushed on to Dorchester, “after 55 miles of the hardest riding we can remember.”

Glad to leave the hills of Devon behind, they cycled through Poole, Bournemouth, and Boscombe, before “bowling along through the New Forest” to Southampton and Gosport, where they caught the ferry to Portsmouth, “the great naval seaport of England.”

Riding on through Chichester, Arundel – “where the Duke of Norfolk’s splendid residence, Arundel Castle is situated,” Shoreham-by-Sea, Brighton, Lewes, Pevensey – “the landing-place of William the Conqueror,” Hastings, and Winchelsea, into Kent, “the garden of England,”

At Ashford they set out on their “pilgrimage to Canterbury, perhaps the most famous of English cathedral cities,” before passing through Faversham, Sittingbourne, Maidstone, Westerham and, on their last day riding – “6,000 miles, since landing at Naples, without accident, which is certainly marvellous,” – Redhill, Reigate, Dorking, Guildford, and, finally, “the Mecca of all English wheelmen—viz., Ripley” in Surrey, where they finished up their “tremendous bicycle tour,” on 8th September 1889. having ridden 10,000 miles, “as well as many thousands of miles of ocean voyaging, in the ten months and a half ” since they left Melbourne.

The following day, they caught the train to be among the huge crowds along the historic Putney to Mortlake Championship Course on the Thames to witness fellow Australian Henry Ernest Searle retain the World Sculling Championship by beating Canadian champion William Joseph O’Connor. Only 23 years old, Searle would die three months later, after catching typhoid fever on the ship back to Australia (a monument to him stands in the river at Henley).

Catching the train to Bournemouth after the race, a week later, Burston and Stokes made a different route back to Australia by catching a steamer from Liverpool to New York, having shipped their bicycles back home, instead exploring America’s “sights and wonders just in the manner all globe-trotters do.”

“This, of course, is not so satisfactory to as, still it cannot be otherwise, for the snows of America would prevent wheeling. Nevertheless, we should be satisfied with what we have already seen and done, and it would, indeed, be hard for anyone to shake our belief in the fact that the best way to see life is go round about the world on a bicycle.”

• “by G.W. Burston and H.R. Stokes.
• Published by George Robertson and Company, Melbourne, Australia “for private circulation only”

June 1890 – Published in 1891.

A Summer’s Cycling Reminiscence.

“The story of a three months’ bicycling tour through Europe and an account of some of the impressions received” compiled a series of articles which first appeared in the Canadian “Cycling” journal in February 1891, following its editor F.F. Peard, “one of the party” of six members of The Torontos Bicycle Club, on their June 1890 trip of Europe (the author on a brand new 32″ Rudge Safety Bicycle).

Crossing the border from Scotland into “good old England” at Gretna Green, their route took them to Carlisle, “the famous lakes, one of England’s most beautiful districts,” Keswick, Kendal, Lancaster, Preston, Chorley, Bolton, and Manchester, where they caught the train to Buxton and cycled on to Bakewell, Haddon Hall, Derby, Lichfield, and Coventry, “the birth-place of the majority of our modern bicycles,” where they visited the Rudge and Singer factories.

Continuing on through Kenilworth, Warwick, and Stratford-on-Avon, where they “made a jump by rail to Kidderminster”, they made the short ride to Worcester. before again taking the train to Bristol, briefly riding to Flax Bourton and again reaching Weston-super-Mare and Exeter by rail, and cycling on to Newton Abbot and Plymouth.

On the 1st July, 1890 they returned eastward through Eexter, Honiton, Stockland, Templecombe, Shaftesbury, Wilton, Stonehenge, and Amesbury, where they caught the train to London.

After cycling to Brighton, “with the knowledge that France was so close at hand,” they cycled to Newhaven and caught the steamer to Dieppe.

Returning to Newhaven on 1st August 1890, McLean and Peard continued their cycle back to Brighton and London, “including the whole stretch of the world-famous Ripley Road,” (Portsmouth Road from Ripley, Surrey, to London). They stayed in Croydon, before “a few hours’ of riding” to “the coast” (presumably Portsmouth), where they caught a steamer to Ireland.

After taking a ferry from Belfast to Glasgow they had “the chance to visit one of the most hospitable of Northern England homes in the vicinity of Newcastle-on-Tyne,” Ryton, (presumably by train), before leaving once more on train to Edinburgh, and onward to New York from Glasgow.

R.H. McBride’s “A Pleasant Memory” saw him return to Dover from Ostend after cycling in France and Germany, wheeling back to London through Canterbury, Chatham, Gravesend, Blackheath, Vauxhall Bridge and Holborn.

• by F.F. Peard, C. Langley & R.H. McBride.
• published by Press of “Cycling“, Toronto, Canada.
• (illustration, not from the book, of an 1890 32″ Rudge Safety Bicycle, as ridden by F.F. Peard).

August 1890 – Published 1891.

Wheel Tracks in Foreign Lands.

“Recollections of a cycling tour through Europe during the summer of 1890” followed twenty riders of the “Elwell American Bicycle Party” on their safety bicycles as they peddled 1,500 miles around France, Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands and England.

Arriving in Harwich, on a steamer from Rotterdam, they cycled to London, where they explored the city and enjoyed a farewell dinner “at the Holborn Restaurant, one of the grandest eating houses in the world.”

• by James E. Wilkinson.
• Published by Hanzsche & Co., Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A.

May 1891 – Published September 1892.

Our Cycling Tour in England.

“From Canterbury to Dartmoor Forest, and back by way of Bath, Oxford and the Thames Valley” is a journal of a tour by the secretary of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin and his wife, on “safety bicycles”, in his mother’s native land. One chapter had previously appeared in “The New England Magazine” for May, 1892, entitled “Village Life in Old England.”

• by Reuben Gold Thwaites.
• published by A.C. McClurg & Company, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.

June 1891 – Published in 1892.

The Brownies in “Yurep”.

“Or, cycling beyond the sea” is an incredibly rare book, with only 32 copies ever printed. It follows the “Members of the Elwell Bicycle Tour of 1891” on their ride in Europe with “Papa” Elwell, complete with photographs, from England, “touring through sunny France, mid Switzerland’s snow-clad peaks and lakes of blue, and down the fabled Rhine” through Germany and Holland – the same guided tour taken by James E. Wilkinson in “Wheel Tracks in Foreign Lands” a year earlier.

• by Charles R. Cutter and F. R. Goodrich.
• published by Telegram Book Print, Youngstown, Ohio, U.S.A..
• (advert for Elwell’s Tour of 1891 in Life, 2nd April 1891).

July 1892 – published February 1893.

Yankee Schoolboys Abroad.

“or The New England Bicycle Club in Scotland, England, and Paris, July – September 1892” is a collection of memories made by “twelve school and college lads, who, with two teachers, made a bicycle tour through Scotland and England.” Some of the accounts “were read by their writers before schoolmates in the Brookline High School” on their return.

Each student takes it in turn to describe part of their journey, arriving in Newcastle, by train from Melrose after an interesting tour of Scotland, and taking in Durham, Bishop Auckland, Barnard Castle, The Lake District (Penrith, Ullswater, Keswick, Lodore Falls, Grasmere, and Bowness), travelling on to York and Sheffield by train, from where they rode to The Peak District (Bakewell, Chatsworth, Haddon Hall, and Rowsley), before catching the train once more to Leamington Spa, where they stayed for a week, making cycling day trips to Rugby, Coventry, Kenilworth Castle, Warwick Castle and Stratford-upon-Avon.

Cycling on, they visited Banbury, Woodstock, Oxford, Windsor, Eton College and London, before taking an excursion by train to Paris (via the Dover to Calais ferry crossing), returning by train with brief visits to Canterbury, London. Worcester, Chester and Liverpool, where they sailed home to New York.

• Published by Press of C.A.W. Spencer, Brookline, Massachusetts, U.S.A..