Author: [Trade Brochure]. Pope, Albert Augustus [1843 - 1909] - Founder
Title: COLUMBIA BICYCLES. 1892
Description: Boston: Pope Manufacturing Co, 1892. 1st Printing. Printed blue paper self-wrappers, sewn. Now housed in an archival mylar sleeve. 12 pages. Illustrated with 4 cuts of people on cycles, with t.p. having decorative ornamentation to left. 12mo. 5-5/8" x 3-3/4" "Pope Manufacturing Company was founded by Albert Augustus Pope around 1876 in Boston, Massachusetts, and incorporated in Connecticut in 1877. Manufacturing of bicycles began in 1878 in Hartford, Connecticut, at the Weed Sewing Machine Company factory. Pope manufactured bicycles, motorcycles, and automobiles. From 1905 to 1913, Pope gradually consolidated manufacturing to the Westfield Mass plant. The main offices remained in Hartford. It ceased automobile production in 1915 and ceased motorcycle production in 1918. The company subsequently underwent a variety of changes in form, name and product lines through the intervening years. Yet all the way up to present-day, bicycles continue to be made available under the Columbia brand." [Wiki]. An early promotional brochure by this long-time bicycle manufacturer. Herein the company touts it's product, anchored with a 2 page manifesto: "Why Should I Ride a Bicycle?" Evidently enough people agreed they should, for "by the mid-1890s, at the height of the bicycle craze, Pope was manufacturing about a quarter million bicycles annually.". Light age-toning at the extremities, VG+.

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