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Bicycles And Tricycles Of The Year 1886, Harry Hewitt Griffin –
facsimile introduced by Noel Marsham
Olicana Books 200pp
A late Victorian bicycle buyers' guide providing descriptions and illustrations
of nearly 200 wheeled machines, including penny farthings, faciles, tricycles
and quadricycles, republished as a facsimile
How dull are modern equivalents of this publication if you are in search
of variety and invention? Even enthusiasts for Velo Vision’s diet
of paradigm-changing bicycle designs don’t have such a rich selection
upon which to feast.
This was the age before the world had settled upon the brilliant simplicity
of the safety cycle. Here are described an astonishing set of variations
of the high ordinary, through cycles propelled by cranks and levers and
at least 90 tricycle variants. Most of these huge contraptions had one
or more giant wheels, some with a diameter of as much as 60 inches, few
smaller than 36 inches. The ‘Manchester Express Tandem Quadricycle
Roadster’ is described as having a length of 89 inches and being
38 inches wide (2.2 meters long, just shy of a meter wide).
This was the ninth edition of this guide and clearly, by this time,
penny farthings had passed their high-water mark. Safety bicycles had
been built, but their design was in its infancy. Indeed, more ‘dwarf’
ordinaries that use some kind of drive set are listed here. There are
machines from around 20 manufacturers and clearly their work represents
the fruits of an extraordinary surge of invention.
Marshman, who oversaw the republication of this catalogue, incidentally,
was a doctor in general practice in Otley, West Yorkshire – and is
described elsewhere as a ‘stalwart of the Veteran Car Club’.
Prices for two wheeled bicycles are listed in advertisements at a shade
under £20. Larger machines rise in price to £40. It is interesting
to reflect on how much of a commitment this represented for readers of
the original of this guide.
A skilled worker in the 1880s earned around £62 per year –
so a penny farthing would have cost around four months wages. In Britain
today a worker in a similar position would earn about £10,000 over
the same period. Put the values into http://www.measuringworth.com/ and
the result is about the same. That is about the cost of a new, small family
car: no small purchase for someone on average earnings, but within reach
of a determined would-be cyclist.
On the other hand, even with the dramatic inflation that has occurred
at the top of the bicycle market in recent years, it would take a truly
determined shopper to drop £10,000 in a bike shop and emerge with
a single machine. In fact, 5% of the average cost of a bike in 1886 will
buy you a really good new bike today. Whether you consider that progress
will depend on how much you enjoy sharing the road with the multitudes
who can buy a clapped out cars for much the same money.
PS December 2008
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