The Velocipede: Its History, Varieties, and Practice

by J. T. Goddard

THE
VELOCIPEDE;

ITS
HISTORY, VARIETIES, AND PRACTICE

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS.

NEW YORK:
PUBLISHED BY HURD AND HOUGHTON.
Cambridge: Riverside Press.
1869.

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.

PREFACE

When the rumor first came across the water, a few years ago, of that wonderful and fascinating little two-wheeled machine, upon which one could so gracefully annihilate time and space, the author of this little book was seized with his first attack of Velocipede Fever.

When, in the spring of 1868, we heard how popular this invention was becoming in France, how much it was ridden in Paris; in its Boulevards, its Bois de Boulogne, and on the smooth paths of the Champs Elysées; how it was employed for amusement in the Garden of the Tuileries, and by the laborer in the suburbs going to his daily toil; how exhilarating to the gentleman, how useful to the messenger and post-boy, we were again seized with the disease with renewed virulence.