A Comprehensive Bibliography of Nineteenth-Century Bicycling Periodicals

The last decade of the nineteenth century saw an explosion in the number of American periodicals that were in circulation. Advertising revenues derived from bicycle advertising were a significant driving factor for this explosion. The bicycle craze of the 1890s peaked at the end of the century with an estimated five million cyclists in the United States. Bicycle manufacturers poured millions of dollars into periodical advertising. This advertising appeared in mainstream newspapers and magazines, but it also created a substantial market for bicycle-specific periodicals. This bibliography examines the interrelationship between nineteenth-century American periodicals and bicycles. It also identifies and analyzes significant bicycle periodicals. It concludes with complete bibliographic information for more than one hundred bicycle periodicals published prior to 1900.