Nine rare promotional postcards from what is generally recognaized as the earliest motorcycle club in the United States, The New York Motorcycle Club. Formed in 1903, just two years after Indian Motocycle (sic) began production of the first commercially available and mass-produced bikes (and three years before Harley-Davidson was formed), The New York Motorcycle Club was founded (according to its bylaws) “to encourage the use of motorcycles and to promote the general interests of motorcycling; to ascertain, defend and protect the rights of motorcyclists; to facilitate touring; to assist in the good roads movement; and to advise and assist in the regulation of motorcycle racing and other competition in which motorcycles engage.” Like most early clubs, the membership consisted primarily of hobbyists, tinkers, builders and the like, and had not yet evolved into the more notorious outlaw clubs that helped define postwar rock-and-roll culture. Still, the cards reflect a distinct outsider subculture. Announced event sinclude a lecture by a Goodyear Tire Co. representative, a Decoration Day hillclimb, a dinner ride to Brewster NY, June short rides, and the like.

Majority of the cards are printed by hectograph, an early and rather primtiive duplicating technology frequently utilized by early zinesters and amateur DIY groups like motocycle clubs. This primitivism is little in evidence, however, in these elaborately illustrated multi-color examples created by club member M.E. Toepel (a German immigrant who worked in the early automobile industry). They are among the finest examples of early American hectography we’re encountered. The remaining two cards feature perhaps the club’s most famous member, Glenn Curtis, both sent from his hometown of Hammondsport. The first, a real photo postcard, shows Curtis flying a dirigible; the second pictures Curtis sitting upon his famous V-8 engine-powered motorcycle on which he set the world speed record for any vehicle in 1907. The card is addressed and captioned in Curtis’ hand: “8 cylinder Club meets at Hammonsport come and bring you 8 cyl.”

All the postcards ar epostmarked 1907 and are addressed to club secretary Dwight Patterson — though a single example is addressed to to his future wife Irene Bartley, residing at #265 West 129th St. in NYC. Bartley and Patterson did not marry until 1908, intriguingly suggesting that she too was active member of the club. She appears to have kept her name even after their marriage (and she returned to it after Dwight’s sudden death from pneumonia just two weeks before the birth of their daughter) perhaps reflecting a certain intrepid spirit. She never remarried and was buried with Patterson (again under her own name) after her death in 1952.

An exceedingly ephemeral collection documenting early motorcycle culture from arguably the first motorcycle club in the United States.

$4,000