Across America by Motor Cycle (Inscribed by the author's brother, George Frederick Shepherd).

First edition hardback published by Edwin Arnold & Co., 1922. Orange cloth with black lettering. Roughly 15 x 23 cm. 248 pages plus 16 page publisher's catalogue to rear. Frontispiece of author plus another 9 photographic plates. 630 grams. Inscribed to front endpaper by the author's brother George Frederick Shepherd (1886~1971): J. G. Forrester Esq. With compliments of the author's brother - G. F. Shepherd - Sept 26th 1924. Book 'cocked'. Discolouration, marking and wear to cloth. Some staining/discolouration to endpapers. Pages clean except for odd foxing spot. Few creased corners. Binding sound and contents complete. --- C.K.’s was born at home in Birmingham, England, in 1895 as Charles Kenilworth Shepherd. I have seen some writings online stating that his first name was Cyril, but this was the apparent result of misidentification of the wrong military records. At age 19, near the beginning of the war that is now known as WWI, C.K. enlisted in the British Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and was immediately trained as an aircraft engine mechanic and sent to the Engine Repair Shops (ERS) in near Pont de l’Arche near Rouen in France. While there, C.K. received swift promotion and then commission as an officer in charge of some 300 men at the ERS. One of C.K.’s fellow officers at ERS was Thomas Stevenson, Jr., who C.K. called Steve in both the book, and in real life. Like his father, Steve had been born in Scotland and had emigrated to North America before the war. Once the war broke out, Steve headed back to England to enlist, but stopped to visit his father in Cincinnati on his way back. So when C.K. wrote in the book that Steve planned to head back to “Dixieland” to visit the “old home-folks,” Steve was talking about going back to be with his parents (which he did, eventually becoming a US citizen). Although there was apparently a conscious decision made in the book to frame C.K.’s trip across America solely as a personal recreational tour to relax after the war, there is ample evidence that there were business purposes for the trip. In his unpublished autobiography, he wrote that he personally funded the trip from his savings earned during his three years from the war. Following in his father’s footsteps, C.K. was an accomplished inventor with several patents to his name, some of which were applied for just before he departed Liverpool for America on May 23, 1919 when C.K. was just 23 years old. When he arrived in the US from Canada, he reported that his destination was Persons Manufacturing Company in Worcester, Massachusetts. Persons was a major manufacturer of motorcycle saddles. In his series of articles in Pacific Motorcyclist and Western Wheelman from August through October 1919, and in newspaper accounts of his ride while in progress, C.K. made it clear he was seeking ways to promote his inventions including meetings with patent attorneys. After he arrived in San Francisco and disposed of “Lizzie,” C.K. took a train from San Francisco back to New York, with a stay of several days in Salt Lake City. It also appears that he went up into Canada before coming back across at Niagara Falls from the Canadian side and then continued down to New York before boarding the S.S. Celtic on September 10, 1919, arriving back in Liverpool September 19, 1919. All told, C.K. spent four months away from home on this journey. Full refund if you are not entirely pleased with your purchase. Please do not hesitate to contact me should you have any questions. Welsh Bridge Books & Collectables is a bricks and mortar shop located alongside the River Severn at Shrewsbury, in a beautiful 16th Century building housing three floors of interesting and eclectic books and collectables for sale. If you're in Shropshire please pop by and say hello! Our location can be found in 'Business Seller Information' below. Thank you. …