Le parc cycliste français depuis soixante années — L’Officiel du cycle, 2 October 1954, Bicycles in France by Year, 1898 to 1953

From L’Officiel du cycle, du motocycle et du camping, 2 October 1954, the paper’s special number before the 1954 Paris Salon du Cycle et du Motocycle, page 167: the table of the French bicycle stock year by year from 1898 to 1953, from the sale of fiscal stamps, with a short commentary on the doublings and the declines. The table is transcribed in full as printed, year by year, with its heading; the introduction and the commentary are summarized in Ebykr’s words.

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LE PARC CYCLISTE FRANÇAIS
DEPUIS SOIXANTE ANNÉES

(Tableau dressé d’après la vente des vignettes fiscales)

[Ebykr summary; the article’s text is not reproduced. The introduction says the figures below come from the statistics of the Ministère des Finances (Direction des Impôts Indirects) on the sale of plates, stamps or fiscal stamps. They are minimum figures, since the number of cyclists who did not pay the tax has always been large; the text puts it at up to a quarter more than the official figures. Their great advantage, it recalls, is that they show the almost constant growth in the spread of the bicycle across the country, a result credited to the efforts of the manufacturers and equally of the Vélocistes, who have the upkeep and repair of this enormous mass of cycles. The text then notes that the “effectifs” have doubled in these spans: 1898 to 1900; 1900 to 1907; 1907 to 1920; 1920 to 1938; and 1923 to 1949. The maximum was reached in 1951 with nearly 12 million machines. The years that showed declines of very varied size were 1915, 1928, 1929, 1933, 1934, 1939, 1940, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1950, 1952 and 1953. For the last of these years the author says he has elsewhere shown that the slight drop recorded is only apparent and corresponds exactly to the production of cyclomoteurs.]

Années — Totaux
1898 — 483.414
1899 — 838.856
1900 — 975.878
1901 — 1.106.768
1902 — 1.191.554
1903 — 1.310.223
1904 — 1.520.458
1905 — 1.683.723
1906 — 1.790.679
1907 — 2.059.740
1908 — 2.244.594
1909 — 2.471.040
1910 — 2.697.406
1911 — 2.980.985
1912 — 3.168.521
1913 — 3.477.973
1914 — 3.552.474
1915 — 1.886.874
1916 — 1.949.646
1917 — 2.030.326
1918 — 2.230.901
1919 — 3.229.315
1920 — 4.308.129
1921 — 4.345.714
1922 — 5.302.474
1923 — 5.837.923
1924 — 6.370.644
1925 — 6.763.354

Années — Totaux
1926 — 7.112.818
1927 — 8.583.728
1928 — 6.818.407
1929 — 6.767.058
1930 — 6.820.027
1931 — 7.123.341
1933 — 7.054.485
1934 — 6.968.564
1935 — 7.063.689
1936 — 7.568.139
1937 — 8.094.903
1938 — 8.788.040
1939 — 8.495.960
1940 — 7.430.520
1941 — 10.049.210
1942 — 10.711.808
1943 — 10.513.429
1944 — 9.274.196
1945 — 8.306.166
1946 — 8.817.325
1947 — 9.645.151
1948 — 10.703.139
1949 — 11.893.380
1950 — 11.866.799
1951 — 11.914.904
1952 — 11.806.498
1953 — 11.278.804
1954 — ?

[A full page of text and figures in a single ruled panel, with no drawing or photograph. The title “LE PARC CYCLISTE FRANÇAIS DEPUIS SOIXANTE ANNÉES” is set in two lines of large, widely spaced slab-serif capitals across the head, with the italic sans-serif line “(Tableau dressé d’après la vente des vignettes fiscales)” centered below it and a short rule beneath. A commentary in italic roman type follows, beginning with a drop capital L and set in four paragraphs. Under a double rule is the table, in two side-by-side blocks divided by a pair of thin vertical rules. Each block has the headings “Années” and “Totaux” with short dashes beneath, and each row joins the year at the left to its figure at the right with a line of dots. The left block runs from 1898 to 1925 and the right from 1926 to 1954, where the last row carries a question mark in place of a figure. The year 1932 does not appear in the right block. The printed page number is not within the area shown. No signature or agency mark.]