CYCLING: THE CRAZE OF THE HOUR (LONDON LIBRARY PUSHKIN PRESS

The London Library was founded in 1841 on the initiative of Thomas Carlyle, and has significantly weeded its shelves only once, in 1944, on the initiative of the Luftwaffe. These three books draw on the remarkable resources of The London Library and give a fascinating insight into the Victorians’ views of three thoroughly modern preoccupations: cycling, women’s sports and obesity (more elegantly, corpulence). Amusing, peculiar and intriguing, these are fine introductions to the velocipede, a proposed solution to morphine-mania, and the practice of banting.