The Great Race - The Amazing Round -the -World Auto Race of 1908

New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2008. A Fine unmarked copy in pictorial laminated boards with Fine dustjacket which is not price clipped. Gathering the research materials was a painstaking process spread over a ten year period. The idea of making a trip around the world was an extraordinary one in 1908, when six automobiles from four countries set out to be the first car to travel from New York to Paris. The race was headline news for months, and readers eagerly followed the progress. The competitors were an eccentric bunch and included an ambitious German army officer who was good at everything but driving, a young Italian poet, a Norwegian explorer who claimed to have sailed a Viking ship across the Atlantic, a roguish Frenchman who left debts everywhere he went, and a quiet American car expert who rarely smiled but could keep a cranky machine running when no one else could. The roads were terrible and the shelters flea-ridden, and the food on the journey was often whatever the contestants could shoot, but everywhere they were greeted by cheering crowds, many of which had never seen a car before. Photograph illustrations. 23. First Edition. Hard Cover. Fine/Fine. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.