126 - [CYCLING]. BAUDRY DE SAUNIER, Louis. A General History of the Velocipede.

[CYCLING]. BAUDRY DE SAUNIER, Louis. A General History of the Velocipede. A fine copy of one of the earliest histories of the velocipede, illustrated with over 150 figures and reproductions in the text. Paris, Paul Ollendorff, 1891. In-8 (190 x 120 mm), aubergine half-shagreen with corner pieces, ribbed spine embossed with the title, author’s name, and date in gold tools, speckled head, covers preserved (modern binding). XV and 321 pages, 1 portrait of the author as a frontispiece, and approximately 150 black-and-white engravings in the text and as inserts. Margins slightly browned. Fourth edition, published in the same year as the original, of one of the earliest histories of the bicycle, with a preface by Jean Richepin and illustrated with over 150 engravings, prints, and English and French caricatures on the history of the bicycle, as well as drawings of machines used over the past three centuries. In this otherwise very serious work, Baudry de Saunier launches a hoax that would last until the mid-20th century: the “célérifère,” a so-called ancestor of the bicycle, said to date from 1790 and to be the invention of a certain Mr. de Sivrac. This copy features the cover of the 1901 edition, placed at the beginning of the book, and incorporates the cover and half-title page from the third edition of 1891. A fine, attractively bound copy.