Mike,
The Badminton Library contained volumes about many different sports including fishing, fencing, horseback riding, cricket, hunting, etc. The Cycling volume was published in the 1880's and 90's. A new edition was brought out each year, I believe, though some years are very similar. Some of the editions are harder to come by than others. Many of the editions feature wonderful line drawings by Joseph Pennell, a popular illustrator of the time and also a cycling enthusiast from Philadelphia. Viscount Bury also did some of the illustrations as well as editing. The other editor, G. Lacy Hillier, was a well known cycling journalist of the time and author of many cycling books. These books are not extremely rare, though I suppose prices have gone up. I purchased a copy about 10 years ago for $45, and there are almost always a couple of copies for sale at the Copake auction each year. I found three for sale on-line today, though they were all over $100. I think they can still be found cheaper than that. They are a wealth of information about cycling in the late 19th century. They are worth looking at just for the illustrations.
I hope this is useful information and not too off topic for the list.
Jonathan Botkin
> Message: 5
> From: "mike richardson" <felice@abts.net>
> To: "classicrendezvous" <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
> Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2001 16:45:41 -0500
> Subject: [CR]Library Cycling Book
>
> While in Winston-Salem today, I stopped in at the Wake Forest Univ. =
> library to take another look at some books I had seen there years ago. I =
> copied the title and a few details of a 19th century cycling manual to =
> see if the historians in the crowd or British list members are familiar =
> with this.
>
> CYCLING by Viscount Burly K.C.M.G. and G Lacy Hillier, published by =
> Longmans,Green & Co. 1887
>
snip
> Anyone familiar with this?