Bicycling for Ladies: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

Bicycling for Ladies, credited to Maria E. Ward, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of Bicycling for Ladies by Maria E. Ward. Read in English by Maria Kasper. Written in 1896, at the height of the bicycle craze, Bicycling for Ladies is addressed to the large numbers of women interested in the new "art of wheeling" and wondering how to begin. The book's author, Maria Ward, knew her subject. She was the co-founder of the Staten Island Bicycling Club, and an advocate for women's athletics in general, at a time when women were first emerging from the era of corsets and petticoats. In this book, she delves into the issues of appropriate dress for cycling, endorsing loose practical clothing, shorter skirts, breathable waists, and even knickerbockers. She clearly explains the mechanics of the bicycle, encouraging women to undertake their own bicycle maintenance, and explaining the use of various tools. She encourages women to venture out and explore the world, extolling the pleasures of cycling holidays on the open road with groups of friends, and the sense of independence and confidence to be found in such adventures. The same year that this book appeared in print, famed woman's suffrage leader Susan B. Anthony said that bicycling "has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. It gives women a feeling of freedom and self-reliance.” It is that very attitude of freedom and self-reliance that Maria Ward sets out to convey in this practical beginner's guide to cycling.(Summary by Maria Kasper)

Recording facts

• Recording title: Bicycling for Ladies
• Author credits: Maria E. Ward
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 22
• Listed recording duration: 5:43:28

Catalogue topics

• women
• bicycles
• recreation
• bicycling
• 1890's

Track guide

1. 01 - Preface; Possibilities — 15:05
2. 02 - What the Bicycle Does — 10:12
3. 03 - On Wheels in General and Bicycles in Particular — 14:11
4. 04 - For Beginners — 11:47
5. 05 - How to Make Progress — 13:14
6. 06 - Helping and Teaching; What to Learn — 16:16
7. 07 - A Few Things to Remember — 14:29
8. 08 - The Art of Wheeling on a Bicycle — 25:33
9. 09 - Position and Power — 19:18
10. 10 - Difficulties to Overcome — 18:10
11. 11 - Dress — 12:21
12. 12 - Watch and Cyclometer — 20:28
13. 13 - Women and Tools — 11:05
14. 14 - Tools and How to Use Them — 12:30
15. 15 - Solving a Problem — 22:40
16. 16 - Where to Keep a Bicycle — 11:55
17. 17 - Tires — 18:50
18. 18 - Mechanics of Bicycling — 10:54
19. 19 - Adjustment — 10:00
20. 20 - Exercise — 9:13
21. 21 - Training — 23:57
22. 22 - Breathlessness; The Limit Mechanical — 21:20

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Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.