103 - FALLET, René. The Bicycle.

FALLET, René. The Bicycle. Paris, Julliard, “Idée Fixe” series, 1973. Narrow 12mo (21 x 10.5 cm), paperback. 122 pp. Slight scuffing. First edition accompanied by a dedication from René Fallet to his friend Pierre Onténiente: “For Pierre on four wheels, from his friend on two.” After following the 1967 Tour de France, René Fallet created, along with a friend, Robert Sausa, a pseudo-cycling race in 1968 called Les Boucles de la Besbre, which had unique rules: breakaways were prohibited, the winner was known in advance, and stops at local bars were mandatory. The first edition took place on August 20, 1968, and the last in 1976. Michel Audiard and Jean Carmet, among others, participated in this race; René Fallet won it in 1970. A special edition was held in 2003 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Tour de France and the 20th anniversary of René Fallet’s death. Here, René Fallet pays a poetic and humorous tribute to the bicycle. “Don’t say, ‘I have a bike,’ if you own a shapeless thing equipped with balloon tires, a bell, and a luggage rack—you’d make the world laugh, the wonderful world of cycling. You only have a bicycle. A ‘vélo’ is a woman. A ‘bicycle’ is a ‘travelot’ in sewer-worker’s boots. It is not the horse that is man’s finest conquest—it is the ‘vélo.’ There are no ‘velocipedic’ butcher shops.” (excerpt). A precious copy autographed by Fallet.