The student of nature has in the bicycle a very
serviceable friend.
I’ve got a special bookshelf devoted to my
favorite oddball classics of cycling literature. It includes copies of F.W
Bockett’s Some Literary Landmarks for Pilgrims on Wheels, J.W. Allen’s Wheel
Magic, and Charles Brooks’ A Thread of English Road, all works that
no-one could call “great” books--they’re too weird and uneven--but that are
nonetheless wonderful in some strange way.
That’s where I’d love to someday put a copy of
William S. Beekman’s Cycle Gleanings: or, Wheels and Wheeling for Business
and Pleasure and the Study of Nature (1894). I say someday because
it’s almost impossible to find extant copies of this book. I got to look at one
of the seven existing copies listed in the worldcat via interlibrary loan, but
good luck trying to acquire a copy for yourself. It’s rare and expensive (years
ago I saw a copy online going for $700), which makes it even more of a gem, if
you ask me.
