The immediate forerunner of the bicycle, the velocipede inspired a cultural craze in late 1860s France that reflected changing cultural attitudes and challenged gender norms. Velocipedomania is the first in-depth study of this fad and the popular culture it inspired, including translations and illustrations from rare texts. 

CORRY CROPPER is a professor of French at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. His publications include Marianne Meets the Mormons, Mormons in Paris (Bucknell University Press), and Playing at Monarchy.
 
SETH WHIDDEN is a professor of French at the University of Oxford and a fellow and tutor in French at The Queen’s College, Oxford. His publications include monographs on Baudelaire, Verlaine, and Rimbaud, a biography of Rimbaud, and translations and critical editions. He is the editor of Nineteenth-Century French Studies.

Introduction
Velocipedomania

CHAPTER ONE
The Utilitarian Velocipede
Note on Monsieur Michaux's Velocipede

CHAPTER TWO
The Velocipede on Stage
Dagobert and His Velocipede

CHAPTER THREE
Narrating Velocipedomania
Manual of the Velocipede

CHAPTER FOUR
Velocipedomania in Verse

CONCLUSION
"We Thought the Velocipede Was Dead"
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Illustration Credits
Index