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(SPORTS--CYCLING.) "Major" Taylor on the Sager Gear, World's Record at Philadelphia. Albertype print, 14½ x 16 inches; unevenly trimmed in margins, mat toning, 1-inch closed tear. Phillipsdale, RI: Providence Albertype Co., November 1898
Marshall Walter "Major" Taylor (1878-1932) was raised in Indianapolis and after moving to Worcester, MA became a professional cyclist in 1896. He set various cycling sprint records in 1898 and 1899, and won the gold in the men's sprint at the 1899 ICA Track Cycling World Championships, making him the first African-American world champion in any sport. Taylor's story was dramatized in a Super Bowl ad for Hennessy cognac in 2019, and the Major Taylor Velodrome in Indianapolis is named in his honor.
This piece is an advertisement for the Sager Gear Company of Rochester, NY, a bicycle parts manufacturer--note that the wheel is driven by a gear rather than a chain. Although the central image was published elsewhere, we trace no other examples of this piece.
