Any 'cycling in print' collectors?

[Brian Phelan]

I've been collecting printed material (books, maps, guides etc.) relating to early cycling for about five years. I'm not American, I was born, raised and live in Ireland so most of what I have is either Irish or English but generally the former. The earliest item is a cycling road book for England & Wales (1884) and the earliest Irish item is the 'Cyclist's and Pedestrians Guide to the Neighbourhood of Dublin' (1891)

I've asked this question on a number of forums but haven't really got much response so thought I'd try here.

Anyone collect historical printed material related to cycling?

This is a link to an album of photos of some of the items in my collection https://1drv.ms/f/s!Fv-NlJsKWC3udXlSMHdGeTZHTzY0JAw

[zzzz]

Here you go:

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/map_item.pl?data=/home/www/data/gmd/gmd436/g4361/g4361p/ct000092.jp2&style=gmd&itemLink=r?ammem/gmd:@field(NUMBER+@band(g4361p+ct000092))&title=Map%20of%20California%20roads%20for%20cyclers.

[Brian Phelan]

Here you go:

You're a librarian?

[zzzz]

No, I'm in the woodworking business.

But if your real question is how I came across this, it was picked up by a online magazine (Slate) from a periodic release that the Library of Congress makes of stuff in their archives that the public may find of interest. This happened 2 or 3 years ago and the map was so cool I posted it here at that time.

pm

[Brian Phelan]

This is the only thing American in my collection. An advertisement in 'The Art and Pastime of Cycling' published in Dublin in 1891.

[Brian Phelan]

This happened 2 or 3 years ago and the map was so cool I posted it here at that time.

Yes it's a cool map but institutions like the Library of Congress get most of their material from private sources such as collectors. Hopefully my collection will end up in the National Library here when I'm dead.

For anyone who's interested I've written an article in Crazyguyonabike on early cycle touring in Ireland using items I have.

https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=1mr&doc_id=18439&v=CO

[zzzz]

I'm not a history buff & this isn't the sort of thing that naturally sparks my interest but I consider the Yosemite poster I linked to is one of the coolest things I've ever seen. We have a plotter here at work but it's just grey scale. I tried to get someone to plot it for me in color on poster board so I could hang it up in the house but without specific copyright permission, I kept getting refused. It kind of slipped off my radar but I'm going to need to take another crack at getting it printed and framed.

pm

[Brian Phelan]

Or you could pay $34.99 for a commercially produced reproduction 20X28"

https://www.allposters.com/-sp/Map-of-California-Roads-for-Cyclers-1896-Posters_i9879434_.htm?UPI=F5VR0Q0

Personally I prefer originals

[zzzz]

Thank you for the link, I'll be ordering a copy today.

As for the original vs a repro, to each their own. I will get this, frame it, and slap it on the wall where I want to and not worry about UV light, humidity or temperature fluctuations. If I had the original I'd feel obligated to keep it stored in a space where I kept all that monitored and controlled.

pm

[Westinghouse]

Cycling became extremely popular around 1880-1910 in the USA. There are many old newspaper articles online. I have read quite a few of them. I discovered I had an ancestor who was an avid member of the Century Wheelmen in Pennsylvania. Google around and you should find lots of information.  If it is original articles you collect, that is another matter.

[Brian Phelan]

My primary interest isn't the U.S. it's Ireland.
Ireland was where the pneumatic tyre (tire) was developed by the Scottish born cycling enthusiast John Boyd Dunlop and is also where the sport of cycling polo was invented. Just as in the U.S. there was an explosion of interest in cycling which started among the wealthier sections of society but expanded to include the less wealthy in the 1890s and the early 20th century.
Some material, particularly books, can be found on the internet but a lot of early cycling era newspapers here are only available in the National Library in hardcopy or microfilm. For example, I was able to inform a librarian form the National Library of Ireland that a certain copy of a national newspaper in 1922 had an illustrated article on a local cycle manufacturer which she was seeking information on. I knew because I had a copy of the newspaper. When you have only one newspaper it's easy to find information but when you have hundreds of thousands it's not so easy.

Collectors have their uses.

[Nyimbo]

I also liked this map very much so followed the above link.  The site says 45% 1 day sitewide sale so I ordered a copy for 19.95 plus $5 for shipping.  I have never used the site before so don’t know if this is truly a one off sale or not.