The Epping Hunt or Hobbies in an Uproar
Possibly by William Heath ('Paul Pry') British
Publisher Thomas Tegg British
Not on view
Cityfolk ride velocipedes to participate in the Epping Hunt. At the front of the pack, a dandy crashes into a woman spectator, followed by a tailor a chimney sweep, a butcher, a man in a smock, and a dustman accompanied by a woman ringing a bell. In the distance, additional figures ride to hounds. Heath devoted a series of satires to velocipedes--foot-propelled bikes popularly known as hobbies--in response to a craze that swept fashionable London in 1819. That year Denis Johnson promoted a British model that he based on an 1817 design developed in Baden by Baron Karl von Drais (called a Laufmachine (running machine) or Draisine). The craze soon subsided as accidents mounted, and high fines were issued to those who rode on sidewalks.