Light Dragoon (1 results)

FIRST EDITION. With illustrations by the Author. 11 illus. in text, 2pp. folded ad. for the 'Sussex Safety Spring Step' laid down on p.54, 4pp. inserted ads. on green paper, mainly for bicycles and related products. E.p. ads for Ward, Lock, and Tyler publications. Orig. pictorial boards, cut flush; sl. splitting to spine, otherwise v.g. 90pp. There is one copy of this title on Copac at BL described as 'Lewes printed (1878)'. The edition offered here is also Lewes printed by Geo. P. Bacon but is c.1870. OCLC identifies two other copies at the Ingenium Library, Oldham and the Zentralbibliothek der Sportwissenschaften, Cologne, both with suggested dates of 1870. Although the term velocipede was coined in 1817, it was revived in the 1860s when the Michaux Company in France invented a bicycle with pedals. Examples of the bike appeared in Britain from 1867 to 1868, setting off a popular craze. An unusual aspect of this copy is the insertion at page 54 of a folding illustrated advertisement for the Sussex Safety Spring Step which is laid over the same illustration for this device in the text. The three versions, priced between 15s and 35s, were available from the agent, R.C. Hobden, High Street, Lewes.