A. La Bicyclette — L’Officiel du cycle, 1 May 1954, the French Bicycle Industry, up to 1,600,000 Machines a Year and 15 Million in Use

From L’Officiel du cycle, du motocycle et du camping, 1 May 1954, the paper’s special export number, printed in French, English, Spanish and German, page 17: panorama, section A La Bicyclette (also The Bicycle, La Bicicleta, Das Fahrrad): the French bicycle industry, up to 1,600,000 units a year, 15 million machines in use against 11 million before the war; photograph of a Michaux velocipede (Photo Archives T.C.F.) and of cyclists at a roadside stone (Photo Raph.). The title, headings, captions and lists are transcribed as printed; the text is summarized in Ebykr’s words, and the page images carry it in full.

— Page 1 —
Dès 1861, l’artisan parisien Michaux livra ce type de machine, de son invention à une nombreuse clientèle.

Michaux, a Parisian manufacturer, sold this type of machine (his own creation) to a large clientele from 1861 onwards.

Seit 1861 lieferte der pariser Mechaniker Michaux diesen Maschinentyp seiner Erfindung an eine zahlreiche Kundschaft.

Desde 1861, el Artesano parisino Michaux entregó este tipo de máquina, de su invención a numerosa clientela.

A. — LA BICYCLETTE

[Ebykr summary; the article’s text is not reproduced. The French text says the French bicycle industry is spread across the whole country, with a particularly important manufacturing center in the region of Saint-Étienne. Production has reached as much as 1.600.000 units in one year. It meets the demand for new machines of a clientele counted among the largest in the world; statistics drawn from payment of the special inland tax put the number of users at about 15.000.000 out of a population of 42.000.000. For the best prewar year the French cycling population was put at 11.000.000, so the progress is 30 %. The author adds that because the stock of bicycles had been largely destroyed by the war, French industry first had to rebuild it, and that this considerable effort is what put production in a position to supply new layers of buyers and to enter the international market.]

Photo Archives T.C.F.

A. — LA BICICLETA

[Ebykr summary, in Spanish. The Spanish version repeats the same points: production of 1.600.000 machines a year, about 15.000.000 users for a population of 42.000.000, 11.000.000 in the best prewar year and a rise of 30 %, and the rebuilding of the wartime losses that opened new buyers and the international market.]

A. — THE BICYCLE

[Ebykr summary, in English. The English version gives the same figures (1,600,000 units a year, some 15,000,000 users out of 42,000,000, 11,000,000 before the war, an increase of 30 %) and the same account of the postwar replacement of destroyed machines.]

Photo Raph.

— A. DAS FAHRRAD

[Ebykr summary, in German. The German version gives the same figures (1.600.000 Stück jährlich, ungefähr 15 Millionen Benutzer bei 42 Millionen Einwohnern, 11 Millionen im besten Vorkriegsjahr, 30 % Fortschritt) and the same account of the rebuilding of the fleet and the entry into the international market.]

A 25 km. de Paris, on achète des jonquilles aux populations locales…

25 km von Paris kauft man von den Ortsbewohnern Osterglocken.

Jonquils can be bought from the local population 15 miles out of Paris.

A 25 km de París, se compran junquillos a los habitantes de las poblaciones locales…

[A text page with two halftone photographs and four boxed captions, on a plain ground with no advertiser. At the top a ruled caption panel with arrowheads at its corners holds the French, English, German and Spanish captions for the photograph beside it. At the upper right a halftone photograph shows an early velocipede of the Michaux type in side view: a large front wheel with a tall central stem and handlebar, a small rear wheel, a curved frame bar carrying a sprung saddle, and pedal cranks on the front hub, set against a plain studio background, with the credit line Photo Archives T.C.F. beneath it. Under the French text stands a heading in heavy slab-serif capitals, A. — LA BICYCLETTE, and the same heading repeats in English, Spanish and German at the head of each language column, each column opened by a playing-card suit sign (heart, club, diamond, spade) and set in roman or italic type. At the lower left a second halftone photograph, credited Photo Raph., shows cyclists in light clothes and hats crowded around a white roadside stone marked MONTGERON 4K and PARIS 25K, with bare trees behind them and several bicycles leaning in the foreground. At the lower right a ruled four-language caption panel names that scene. No artist signature is visible, and no text from the reverse of the leaf shows through.]