Omnisport / Eugène Chapus / Prehistory / Paris - Lot 146

Omnisport / Eugène Chapus / Prehistory / Paris Eugène CHAPUS (1800-1877) Sport in Paris. Paris, "Bibliothèque des Chemins de fer" collection, circa 1854. In-12 (17.5 × 11.5 cm), 316 pages. Published in the middle of the XIXᵉ century by the man considered to be one of the inventors of sports journalism, this work provides an abundant panorama of the infancy of Parisian sport. At a time when the velocipede didn't yet exist and canoeing was king on the Seine with six to seven thousand practitioners, Chapus explores every discipline and venue in the capital: swimming pools, riding schools, gymnasiums, circles, shooting, hunting, fishing, fencing or dancing. We come across the Mabille, Gastinne-Renette and Devisme shooting galleries in Les Batignolles, the Amoros and Triat gymnasiums, the Latry and Duphot riding schools, the Franconi, Longchamp and Closerie des Lilas circuses. The descriptions are precise and full of verve: boxers' and canotiers' outfits are described thread by thread, ladies' pools rub shoulders with cigar smokers, and Alphonse Karr himself shines as a "bâtonniste" in the Hubert Lecour hall. A truculent, erudite and deeply human volume, a rare testimony to a sporting and worldly Paris in full effervescence. A fine copy, despite a few traces of damp, giving it a "Poil de Carotte" family air.