J.M. Fuchs (1905–1998)

This is an entertaining collection of early writings about an exciting new phenomenon in Dutch society: the bicycle. The "century of cycling" of the title is justified by taking J.T. Scholte's bicycle shop, opened in Amsterdam in 1868, as the start of cycling as an organised activity. For completeness they also include a brief mention of the first documented sighting of someone riding a draisine in the Netherlands, which was in a book published in 1826. Fuchs and Simons start to lose interest around 1905, but they do take a few threads of the story through to the 1920s and beyond, in particular the ever-controversial bicycle tax, which persisted until the German occupation.

The excerpts from books, magazines, newspapers, etc., are grouped around topics like riding schools, road rage, cycling clubs, (anti-)cycle legislation, women and bicycles, cycling costume, racing, cycle paths (the first was in Utrecht in 1887), official adoption of bicycles (post office, police, army, etc.), water- and ice-cycles, bicycle songs (including a verse of the Dutch version of "As some day it may happen" from The Mikado!), and bicycle humour. And of course the evergreen topic of the disputed etymology of the Dutch word fiets - perhaps wisely, they list the many different theories without expressing an opinion (obviously they don't know about the 2012 "breakthrough", Professor Gunnar de Boel's theory that the word is a contraction of German "Vize-Pferd", but perhaps that's just as well since that theory has since been widely dismissed too...).

Not very profound or analytical, but fun if you like that kind of thing.… (mer)