In verse and pictures, the cycling adventures of Hiram Jones - sent as eight weekly cards by Brown Brothers of London - to advertise the new coasting brake manufactured by the New Departure Manufacturing Company of Connecticut.
Eight stiff cards (18x14cm), printed on both sides in green and black. On the recto of each is the full title which explains that the series ‘Consists of eight differently illustrated verses, one of which you will receive every week for the next eight weeks. Keep them until Hiram bids you adieu.’ Below is printed the summary of ‘This fellow [who] buys a bike and in due time has it fitted with a new departure coaster brake...’ - the product being advertised. An address panel has the handwritten name of the recipient, ‘Mr R Barker, Spencer St, Hull’ - presumably a cycle shop during the Edwardian period. Postal franks reveal that the cards were sent between July and September 1902. The cards are faded and soiled but thanks to the excellent quality of the card stock, remain in good condition. Neither the name of the artist who illustrated the sequence nor the writer of the narrative ditties is recorded - and we can find no trace of these cards in any institutional collection to help - a single copy of The New Departure Coaster Brake, an 8 page pamphlet held at The Henry Ford in Michigan from 1910 might also be using this material. Certainly the locations and costumes contained within the artwork are distinctly American and given the Connecticut location of New Departure it seems likely that Brown Bros in London had borrowed the artwork from New Departure itself.
Over the course of the story Hiram decides to brave the road without a brake, is dismounted by ‘Squire Johnson’s dog, prompting him to observe ‘”By hemp”, said Hiram that Coaster Brake,/ That latest New Departure make,/ Is something that surely must be tried...’, subsequently steering round a ‘pesky calf’ which ‘this New Departure saved... from veal’ and ‘through dust, mud and snow...’ before recommending the device to all and sundry. Apparently the emergence of the coaster brake was a significant development in early bicycling.
