Carpe Diem Fine Books

Around the World on a Bicycle: From San Francisco to Teheran [and] From Teheran to Yokohoma (2 volumes)

Stevens, Thomas

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1887 & 1888. First Editions. Complete in two volumes. 8vo. Vol. I: 547, [16 pp publisher's advertisements]. Vol. II: 477 pp. Color frontispiece with tissue guard in Vol. 1; black & white frontisiece with tissue guard in Vol. II; wood engravings. Pictorial blue cloth in gilt, silver and red; brown endpapers. Light wear to extremities; light spotting to endpapers; closed tear to endpaper in second volume; else a near fine set. Item #22385

Thomas Stevens (1854 – 1935) was the first person to circle the globe by bicycle; he rode a large-wheeled Ordinary, also known as a penny-farthing built by the Pope Manufacturing Company of Chicago. Stevens departed San Francisco at 8 o'clock on 22 April 1884 and travelled through many countries, ending the bicycle part of his trip on December 17, 1886 at Yokohama. His itinerary accounts "DISTANCE ACTUALLY WHEELED, ABOUT 13,500 MILES". Along the way, Stevens sent a series of letters to Harper's Magazine detailing his experiences and later collected those experiences into this two volume set. The Pope Company preserved Stevens's bicycle until World War II, when it was donated to a scrap drive to support the war effort.

Price: $1,500.00