New York and Coney Island Cycle March: Two-Step

New York: E. T. Paull Music Co., 1896. First Edition. Good. Sheet music, presumed first printing (an almost identical copy with the same copyright date, but for a slight difference in the attire of two of the figures and a different song advertised on back wrap at the NYPL) ; 13 1/4 x 10 1/2; pp. 3-7; chromolithographed wraps; illustrated with an engraving of the composer; thin worn strip along spine and a small spot to upper margin of front wrap; archival repairs to hinge; a bit of wear to edges and corners; in good condition.A fabulous tribute to both Coney Island and early bicycling, the front wrap illustrated an amusement park, with four of its features seen through the spokes of bicycle wheels, and its boardalk with many bicyclists, including a dapper couple on fancy bicycles to the forefront. The outer edge was ringed with smalll vignettes of riders and listed bicycle makers and their model names. The march was inspired by New York’s Ocean Parkway - a five-mile, tree-lined boulevard from Brooklyn's Prospect Park to Coney Island, which was designed by landscape architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux and built between 1874 and 1876. It would become the nation's first designated bike path.