Item #11091 Gentlemen's Driving Map Showing The Park System Of Boston…First Edition. Frank C. MILES.
Gentlemen's Driving Map Showing The Park System Of Boston…First Edition
Guide to Biking Boston at the Height of the Bicycle Craze
Boston/ Bicycle History.
[Boston, 1892]

Gentlemen's Driving Map Showing The Park System Of Boston…First Edition.

22 x 28 ¼ inches, Hand-colored heliotype with original gold-embossed covers, separate; marginal repairs & some mended losses at folds, a few stains, still very good.

A rare map (not appearing in map market records) made of the "Gentleman" bicyclist, highlighting the not particularly ample park areas of Boston at the time.  Noted with cautionary red lines are roads with street car tracks, presumably to be avoided by cyclists.  Slanted green lines indicate unfinished roads. 

Bicycling in the United States reached craze proportions in the 1890s.  Then-recent technological advances--most notably the chain-drive transmission that allowed for smaller wheels--made the riding experience easier and more comfortable.  Embossed in gold on the back cover of this work is a lovely image of this "modern" bicycle that in fact looks not unlike today's bicycles.

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