"Columbia Bicycles" by Cassius Marcellus Coolidge

Columbia Bicycles

Albert Pope is credited with creating the American bicycling industry. He first imported from England before manufacturing his own in 1878 through the Columbia Bicycle Company of Massachusetts. He established hundreds of shops around the United States to sell this bicycle and this poster was one of the numerous advertisements hung in these showrooms. The caption reads "We are having a heavenly time." I am not sure why a monkey and a parakeet on a bike would be persuasive sales literature, but I never majored in marketing. Columbia Bicycles are produced today by the Columbia Manufacturing Company of Westfield, Massachusetts.

It was originally painted in 1895 and was 20x25 inches. This picture can be found in the book 100 Years of Bicycle Posters by Jack Rennert. The lines and abrupt color changes in this image are artifacts of the method used to capture it.