Book details

Publication date: November 2015
Features: 69 B&W images, bibliography, notes, index
Series: Wayfarer
Keywords: Travel Literature/Memoir
Subject(s): TRAVEL / Europe / General, Creative Writing, Creative Writing / Travel Literature, Creative Writing, Creative Writing / Literary Nonfiction, Travel Literature/Memoir, TRAVEL / Special Interest / Bicycling, SPORTS & RECREATION / Cycling, Travel guides: activity holidays, Bicycles & non-motorised transport: general interest & maintenance, LITERARY COLLECTIONS / Women Authors, LITERARY COLLECTIONS / American / General, Literature, Travel, Sports & Recreation, Travel Literature/Memoir
Publisher(s): The University of Alberta Press
Elizabeth Robins Pennell (1855–1936) and Joseph Pennell (1857–1926), a married couple from Philadelphia, collaborated on numerous books as writer and illustrator. Dave Buchanan teaches in the English Department at MacEwan University in Edmonton. His current research explores the first generation of cycle-travel literature from the 1880s and 1890s. He blogs about the semi-serious cycling life at dustymusette.blogspot.ca.

"In the airy, self deprecating style of Robert Louis Stevenson, an American couple captured the imaginations of UK and US readers through the five illustrated cycle-travel books they created beginning in the 1880s. Yes, bikes existed back then—they were all the rage, in fact—and Elizabeth and Joseph Pennell succeeded in bringing the leisure touring idea to the forefront through their jaunts aboard a tandem tricycle outfitted with luggage racks.... Cycling historian Dave Buchanan contributes an enlightening introduction which grounds the couple in the literary/art world of the late nineteenth century and gives a gearhead sense of bicycling history. But Elizabeth’s delightful prose steals the show..."

Foreword Magazine


"Cycling historian Dave Buchanan contributes an enlightening introduction which grounds the couple in the literary/art world of the late nineteenth century and gives a geared sense of bicycling history."

Matt Sutherland, Foreword Reviews


"[T]he books and articles penned by the Pennells rise to the level of literature. Elizabeth did most of the writing, while Joseph, a lithographer, contributed detailed illustrations of their wanderings."

Duncan Jamieson, AETHLON: The Journal of Sport Literature


"A Canterbury Pilgrimage/An Italian Pilgrimage is a beautifully illustrated quick read that gives the reader a wonderful sense of how cycling used to be. I was particularly interested in their description of cycling from Florence through Tuscany via Siena as I’ve pedaled these hills myself. Moreover, Dave Buchanan’s extensive (57-page) introduction puts the Pennells’ cycling stories into the perspective of the time. If you are looking for a diversion, this is a great little book that is both interesting and beautiful." [Full post at https://nicolaross.ca/a-boneshaking-ride-on-a-velocipede-the-beginning-of-cycle-touring]

Nicola Ross, 01/10/2022

Acknowledgements
Introduction
A Note on the Text

A Canterbury Pilgrimage
An Italian Pilgrimage

Notes
Works Cited
Bibliography
Selected Early Cycle-Travel Literature to 1900
The Pennells’ Cycling Publications
Non-Cycling Books by the Pennells
Index
ISBNs: 9781772120424 978-1-77212-042-4 Title: a canterbury pilgrimage / an italian pilgrimage ISBNs: 9781772120929 978-1-77212-092-9 Title: a canterbury pilgrimage / an italian pilgrimage ISBNs: 9781772120936 978-1-77212-093-6 Title: a canterbury pilgrimage / an italian pilgrimage ISBNs: 9781772120943 978-1-77212-094-3 Title: a canterbury pilgrimage / an italian pilgrimage