Ancient Photograph of the Day

William Sachtleben and bicycle, Turkey, June, 1891 - Photograph taken by Thomas Gaskell Allen
UCLA Library Digital Collections

Andy is listening to an audio recording of Across Asia on a Bicycle by Thomas Gaskell ALLEN (1868 - 1955?) and William Lewis SACHTLEBEN ( - 1953). Summary:

In 1890, two Americans newly graduated from college set out to travel around the world on a then-new invention, the modern bicycle. In 1893 they returned, have covered over 15,000 miles, at that time the "longest continuous land journey ever made around the world." This is their account of their trip across Turkey, Persia, Turkestan and northern China. It described their adventures traveling along through regions few outsiders ever visited. And include climbing Mount Ararat (they didn't find an ark) and a meeting with the then Chinese Prime Minister. And numerous photographs selected from the 2,500 taken on the almost 3 year trip.