Overman Wheel Co. Victor Bicycle Lithograph

Three women on bicycles

Will H Bradley was the American illustrator who did this, which was to be included in an issue of Harper's Magazine. Published in 1895, this is just before the height of the "bicycle craze" of the 1890s.

This is an for the Overman Wheel Company and their Victor bicycles.

www.loc.gov/item/2002721219/

Title-Victor bicycles, Overman Wheel Company, Boston, New York, ... / Will H. Bradley
Summary-Three women on bicycles.
Created / Published-1895.
Notes
- Lithograph printed by Harper & Brothers, New York.
- Reverse: cover by M. Parrish for Harper's Weekly, Christmas, 1895 [can't see since encapsulated with backing sheet].
- Promotional goal: US. D41. 1895; US. K22. 1895.
- This record contains unverified, old data from caption card.
Medium-1 print (poster) : color.
Call Number/Physical Location-POS - US .B732, no. 25 (B size) [P&P]
Repository-Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA>
Digital Id-cph 3b49660 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3b49660; cph 3a17246 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3a17246; cph 3a29202 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3a29202
Library of Congress Control Number-2002721219
Online Format-image
Description-1 print (poster) : color. | Three women on bicycles.
LCCN Permalink-lccn.loc.gov/2002721219


This poster, also be Bradley for Overman, is probably better known.
Title: Victor Bicycles Overman Wheel Co. / / Bradley.
Creator(s): Bradley, Will, 1868-1962, artist
Date Created/Published: Boston : Forbes Co., [1896]
Medium: 1 print (poster) : lithograph, color.
Summary: Poster advertisement for Overman Wheel Company's Victor bicycles, showing a woman watching another woman riding a bicycle. Includes art nouveau style flowers.

OOPS! I eventually realized that I blogged separately about these two different items some years ago. Here, however I consolidated the information. And expanded it, slightly. Oh well!

"What Happened?" Bicycle Illustration 1897

Found on the Library of Congress web site - https://www.loc.gov/item/2010715933/

Title-What happened?
Contributor Names-Frost, A. B. (Arthur Burdett), 1851-1928, artist
Created / Published-[1897?]
Subject Headings
- Bicycles & tricycles
- Men
- Traffic accidents
Format Headings-Drawings.
Periodical illustrations.
Notes
- (DLC/PP-1934:0009).
- Forms part of: Cabinet of American illustration (Library of Congress).
- Published as cover of: Harper's weekly, 41:1093 (Nov. 6, 1897).
Medium-1 drawing : wash.
Call Number/Physical Location-CAI - Frost, no. 47 (C size) [P&P]
Source Collection-Cabinet of American illustration (Library of Congress)
Repository-Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Digital Id
cai 2a12589 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cai.2a12589
cph 3c38124 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3c38124
Note: digital file from intermediary roll film copy

The digitized version is not of very high quality since it was digitized from a photographic reproduction of the original item. That is why it has the color bar and rulers.


Detail from the above illustration

Above is a zoomed in view of the bicycle taken from the TIFF image - the level of detail, because this is digitized from a reproduction and not the original illustration, is not particularly good but at least provides enough to show that the person doing the illustration captured accurately the details of an 1897 bicycle.

You can tell it is a "fixie" as it would be called today - that is, the chain drive doesn't spin freely when the rider is not pedaling, the pedals move in concert with the back wheel. The easiest way to slow down or stop was simply to slow down or stop pedaling. This bike has a small post on either side of the front fork that stick out so that a rider could remove his feet from the pedals and rest them on the fork to allow the pedals (and rear wheel) to spin freely while descending hills - getting the feet back onto the pedals was tricky, but this bike also came equipped with a simple "spoon brake" that is visible - that is, a levered brake actuated by the right hand that pressed a post downward to the front tire, pressing a block of some material (perhaps also covered in rubber) against the tire to slow the bicycle. This can be a moderately effective braking system but if used frequently it was hard on the front tire. Certainly it was better than nothing! (And such brakes are still in use on bikes in many parts of the world.)

Another detail provided is the bicycle saddle - a non-standard bicycle saddle was a common aftermarket upgrade for bicycles in those days. Here the saddle is split in the middle, apparently to provide more comfort (or something). Such bicycle saddles remind me of the slotted McClellan saddle for riding horses used by the military that have a slot down the middle. As a teenager I occasionally rode a horse using such a saddle and didn't find it very comfortable, but the slotted nature of a bicycle saddle is less rigid and usually comfortable enough. Still, I don't have a good association with slotted bicycle saddles.

Looking Forward from 1894 - Cycling Options

I found a curious and amusing article in the Phillipsburg Herald (Phillipsburg, Kansas) from April 5, 1894. In the 1894 the "bicycling craze" of the 1890s was well underway but the "safety bicycle" (that is, a bicycle with the basic design we still have today) was still being improved each year and the peak of the craze would not be until 1896-1897. As with any "craze" there was speculation as to what might come next - this long article from the middle of the United States covered the possibilities (most of which were quite improbable) extensively, with illustrations.


nGram shows discussion of "wheelmen" in newspapers peaked 1896-1896 -- 1894 was still early

As you can see below, the article on bicycles and cycling took up the entire left side of the full page.


Image of the full newspaper page

The article begins:

The friends of cycling are legion and their number is augmented every day. As a sport it remains as popular as ever, and during the enforced dullness of tho winter months the cyclist dreams but of the perspective enjoyment another season. Long before the advent of the first robin and the timid crocus, the wheelman has burst in full bloom and can be seen gayly "pumping" through mud and slush having a glorious time in making himself and others believe that gentle spring has come.

Then it continues with illustrations and descriptions of a variety of possible bicycle types, including some more imagined than real.


A fanciful illustration suggests the skepticism of many about cycling at the time


A bicycle driven by one's arms as well as legs


A bicycle equipped with a sail


A bicycle equipped for ice (only)


An apparently regular bicycle used to help create a "new" milking maid


Cargo carrying with bicycles can require considerable skill - Egypt, 2008 example

Yes, this fellow is riding along with an open tray of Egyptian flatbread on his head.

The "American Girl" of 1897 - to be Thankful for on Thanksgiving

In the St. Paul Globe newspaper this article was titled "The Queen of Thanksgiving" but the same article was published in a number of newspapers across the country (with various titles). The article has a large illustration portraying the American girl (or woman, really) of 1897 in various settings.


Full version of the illustration for the article about the "American girl" of 1897

The full text of this article in the Sunday November 21, 1897 issue of the St. Paul Globe talks about many positive aspects of the "American Girl," stating that, ". . . Thanksgiving day, '97, will find the American girl, as all other Thanksgivings have found her, not emancipated, for she never was enslaved, but free as the bright, frosty air that wooes her athletic frame, sending the bleed coursing swiftly through her veins and imprinting the charming tinge of robust health on her cheeks." One can argue that point, of course, but the description of women and cycling that follows seems to suggest that some things have been changing:

A good place to view her at her best will be from the sidewalk of any smooth-paved street of our cities, or from the pathways of macadamized country roads. Here, in the nattiest and newest of bicycle rigs, she will be seen, with her cheeks aglow, her bright eyes sparkling, her pretty hair dancing merrily in the wind, bowling along a-wheel at a pace that surely has nothing in common with chains or fetters, unless it be the bicycle chain that enables her to challenge the wind to a trial of speed and beat the old flirt in a canter. The manner in which the American girl has taken advantage of this glorious sport bears ample testimony to the fact that when she wants a thing she will have it and knows how to take the fullest advantage of what is hers by right. If the shades of the dear old grandmothers of the days of wheel and distaff could return to earth next Thursday and gather along the highways and byways where laughing, chaffing, free and happy columns of wheelwomen fly by, they will surely return to the land of shadows with feelings of regret that their lot was not cast in an era when women find more healthful means of employing their time than the laborious and confining duties of the old-fashioned home life. That the change is vastly for the better even the most disgruntled and cross-grained critic of the up to-date womanhood will admit. Instead of the pale-faced, narrow-chested woman of the wheel and distaff era, the spectator who chooses a front seat to view the passing show of Thanksgiving day '97 will see a long procession of rosy-cheeked, lithe-limbed, happy, healthy and wholesome specimens of femininity that speak contentment in every action.

Bicycling "American girls" - to be thankful for on Thanksgiving

There is a certain polemical aspect to this that speaks to the power relationship between men and women at that time which I think it is possible to separate from the way that women and and cycling are portrayed. In other words, trying to say that women are don't need emancipation because they enjoy the benefits of cycling is not a terribly good argument against emancipation, but the way women and cycling in 1897 are described here (aside from the period writing style) tells us that cycling was in fact a change for women at that time. Just not the last change . . .

Super Cargo Bike ~ of 1898

Paging through issues online of the 1898 "Cycle Age and Trade Review" I found in the November 10, 1898 issue a remarkable article with two illustrations of what seems to be a monster cargo bike - but alas, by this time, this "cycling" journal was starting to include articles about various motorized vehicles as well.


The eye-catching cargo trike - with gasoline engine, it turns out


Detail view, that hides the engine from inspection

COLUMBIA MOTOR CARRIERS

Pope Mfg. Co. of Hartford, Conn., has published a pamphlet describing the carrier vehicles shown in the accompanying illustration. The merchandise capacity of the vehicle is rated at 500 pounds under which it will give its regular speed and power. The structural strength, however, is sufficient to permit a load of 600 or 650 pounds, although under this extra weight the motor will not develop its normal speed. The form and design of the carrying bodies are not necessarily as shown, but may be varied to suit different requirements. The two styles illustrated show wide variation between a light motor truck wagon and a closed-up affair such as would be suitable for a dry goods establishment. The motor is a specially designed gasoline engine for which no water jacket or other cooling device is necessary, thereby saving many complications and much weight, says the company. A supply of gasoline which is sufficient for about 100 miles travel is carried in a tank attached to the frame between the boxes. Like all gas or gasoline motors, the first explosion must be obtained by physical effort, and bicycle cranks and pedals were adopted to give the desired result in the easiest and most satisfactory manner. By the attachment of a clutch with chain and sprocket to the shaft of the driving wheels, foot power may be used to assist the motor when on steep grades, obtaining higher speed than the auxiliary low gear of the motor would normally produce. When the cranks and pedals are not in use they remain stationary. The normal weight of this carrier vehicle is given as 750 pounds.

Pope was the manufacturer of Columbia bicycles (I was not familiar with this identity, "Pope Motor Carriers") and I had not realized the degree to which some of their motorized products were hybrids with their products as this one is. Of course this may only have been a design prospectus and never produced or sold.

It's an interesting idea, to have the pedals used for the kickstarter function to start the gasoline motor and then as a supplementary power source when useful.


Modern day cargo trike, in Portland Ore (naturally), with an electric assist motor

"Biggest Bicycle Ever Built"? DC Newspaper 1897

Sometimes I come across things in older newspapers that I can't figure out. In the 'Wheels and Riders' page for the February 6 1897 issue of the Washington newspaper the Evening Star in 1897 there is a line drawing captioned "Biggest Bicycle Ever Built" that seems to be set in Washington.


The illustration showing the "Biggest Bicycle Ever Built"

I spent some time reading the articles surrounding the illustration but they make no mention of this bicycle. In newspapers at this time there was a fair amount of "filler" such as short jokes or anecdotes that don't necessarily track with the rest of the nearby material. Is this some kind of filler? Or it is reference to something real?


Full page view, page 13 of the Evening Star in 1897

Easter Cycling Events - 1897

In looking at American newspapers from the late 1890s, I found these two illustrations from the St Paul Globe and the Washington Times looking at cycling and Easter 1897.


An amusing illustration showing a variety of cyclists who would riding in an annual Easter cycling event

With an expectation that as many as 10,000 would be riding if there was good weather - that's a pretty high number. At the "opening of the Bicycle Easter Egg." From the St. Paul Globe, April 11, 1897.



In Washington the expectation was that "thousands" would be out riding - again, depending on the weather

From the Washington Times, April 18. 1897

Peter Akmatow-Dombrowski, Russian Racer of 1896

From The Referee and Cycle Trade Journal issue for March 26, 1896.

RUSSIA'S FUTURE CHAMPION - Peter Akmatow-Dombrowski and His Many Brilliant Performances.

Peter Akmatow-Dombrowski, the subject of this sketch, will, it is safe to predict, play a leading role on Russian race tracks the coming season; in fact, there is little doubt that he is the best man on the track in Russia to day. He is a native of Kiew and twenty-one years of age. Although active at racing since his fifteenth year, he was not prominent until 1895, when at Moscow he came within a fraction of an inch of winning the Russian mile championship from Djakow.



This being the first time he had met the faster men of his country, his performance caused intense surprise. All previous minor events in which he started were won by him, this being his first defeat. He holds the Eussian unpaced records for the quarter, eighth, and half verst, and the quarter English mile.

Coverage of foreign cyclists and particularly outside of western Europe at this time was quite unusual.

"The Scorchers Have Taken the Town" 1897

Humor of sorts, apparently

From "The Wheel and Cycling Trade Review" issue for June 18, 1897.

When they whiz by ~

Mark, mark!
The dogs do bark;
The scorchers have taken the town;
Some in rags and a few with jags,
But every mother's son of them with a wild and almost uncontrollable desire to run somebody down.

I have blogged about what a "scorcher" was in the 1890s before.

The Bicycle - the Great Dress Reformer (1895)

As noted in any earler post, the Library of Congress has digitized many of the "centerfold" color illustrations from Puck magazine - this one from 1895 demonstrates how both men and women's attire were affected by the interest in cycling. And 1895 was not yet the height of the cycling craze.


Both men and women's attire were affected by the "bicycle craze"

Title - The bicycle - the great dress reformer of the nineteenth century! / Ehrhart.
Creator(s) - Ehrhart, S. D. (Samuel D.), ca. 1862-1937, artist
Date Created/Published - N.Y. : Published by Keppler & Schwarzmann, 1895 August 7.
Medium - 1 print : chromolithograph.
Summary - Print shows a man and a woman wearing knickers and bloomers, standing with a bicycle between them, shaking hands; to the right and left are examples of nineteenth century fashion.
Reproduction Number - LC-DIG-ppmsca-29031 (digital file from original print)
Notes: Title from item.
Illus. from Puck, v. 37, no. 961, (1895 August 7), centerfold.

Full record and TIFF.

Bicycle Metaphor for "In with the New Year" (1898)

The Library of Congress has digitized many of the "centerfold" color illustrations from Puck magazine including this one that shows a young woman riding in on a bicycle as the arriving new year 1898.


1898's arrival will (hopefully) drive out "Bryanism" and "hard times"

The text reads, "Puck's greeting to the new year - Good luck to you! No punctures, no breakdowns, and easy roads!"

Title - Puck's greeting to the new year / Ehrhart.
Creator(s) - Ehrhart, S. D. (Samuel D.), ca. 1862-1937, artist
Date Created/Published - N.Y. : Published by Keppler & Schwarzmann, 1898 January 5.
Medium - 1 print : chromolithograph.
Summary - Print shows Puck holding a lithographic pen, greeting the New Year, a young woman labeled 1898 riding on a bicycle and spilling flowers from a cornucopia straped to her back; an old woman labeled 1897 rides off on a bicycle into a dark and dismal background, stirring up a cloud of dust labeled "Bryanism" and "Hard Times", and showing two furies.
Notes - Title from item.
Illus. from Puck, v. 42, no. 1087, (1898 January 5), centerfold.

From the Library of Congress - full record and TIFF version. The cataloger who created the records (such as the one above) has a blog post at the Library of Congress site about the Puck collection that this comes from.

After having created this entry, I realized that "Puck's greeting" (Good luck to you! No punctures, no breakdowns, and easy roads!) was the same as a title of a blog post from a fellow in England who covers some of the same 1890s-1900s bicycle topics that I do - oops. (His blog appears in "my blog list" but that doesn't mean I look at the entries all the time.) Well, I have presented an image of the full layout of the magazine pages and provided the full record as well as a link to the full record so my post is a little different. And different people can independently come to the same idea.

The Bucolic Cycling Image

Filler illustration from 1896 cycling magazine

"The Referee and Cycle Trade Journal: a Weekly Record and Review of Cycling and the Cycle Trade." Volume 17, Number 1 - May 7, 1896.
archive.org/details/refereecycletra171896chic

An idealized view of cycling in the 1890s - perhaps. Hard to know if it is idealized or not, actually.

"Punctured" - Love & Cycling, 1898

"Punctured"

From the Library of Congress - full record
Title: Punctured
Date Created/Published: c1898.
Medium: 1 print : lithograph.
Summary: Man with arrow in chest, on a road holding a bicycle, facing a woman with a bicycle. Love.
Notes:
* Lithograph copyrighted by Henry Graves & Company, Limited, London.
* This record contains unverified, old data from caption card.
* Caption card tracings: Bicycles; Love and courtship; Shelf.

Ah, librarianship - able to reduce anything to rather a musty discussion. Still, a nice lithograph, and amusing.

Fanciful Bicycle Propulsion - Sails (1896)

Article from the 1896 Washington Times describes a growing (at the time) popularity for sails fixed to bicycles.

Possible to Equip the Wheel Like a Ship - WINGS OF WHITE SILK
Connected to Bamboo Poles, the Sails Are Ran Up and Down as the Wind May Turn - They Make Wheel the Ideal Locomotion for a Sultry Day.

There is activity at the sailmakers, though this is the season when all sails should be finished and floating the blue horizon.

This unwanted activity is caused by the sudden appearance of the bicycle sail, out of which has sprung a demand for sails, unprecedented even in cup years. The bicycle sail is a little affair. It is made of duck or sailcloth, and its dimensions are a little more than a yard square.

Somewhat fanciful illustration that accompanies the article

The cost of white sails for a bicycle comes to something like $3, if you are contented with a good quality and a fairly white sail. If you want the silk finish and the dazzling white, you must pay for it fully twice as much.

This is not a perfect propulsion system, however.

HARD TO MANAGE

In rigging up a bicycle's sails there is a great deal of care necessary. A person not an expert, starting off swiftly upon a wheel rigged with sails of his own making, would undoubtedly get a fall of the most sensational description. His sails being raised too high would carry him along at a top-heavy pace and he would be unable to keep back his machine by back-pedalling, or any of the arts known to the wheelman. More than that, it would throw him forward upon his wrists in a frantic effort to keep his seat. And the result would be awkward, even if he escaped calamity.

Another trend from the 1890s that met with some success in the press, but not in reality.