Adventures in skating historiography
Fríssbók or Codex Frisianus is an Icelandic manuscript written in the first quarter of the fourteenth century. It includes a copy of Magnússona saga (called Saga Sigurðar, Eysteins ok Ólafs in C. R. Unger's edition). The whole manuscript has been digitized and is available at handrit.is! Here is the part about skating, with the phrase… Continue reading Bone skates in Fríssbók
For the last couple of weeks, I've been learning to skate on my snavelschaatsen (long-toed skates modeled after Hieronymus Bosch skates). https://youtu.be/CJ1lPKDSakM They are very slick and work best on soft ice. It was hard to get them to stay in place, but using two laces—one to keep them attached and the other to keep… Continue reading Skating on my snavelschaatsen
The Catalogue of the Collection of London Antiquities in the Guildhall Museum lists 16 bone skates. The first, #134, is "said to have been found with two Roman sandals" at London Wall. A few of these skates, including #134, were drawn by Charles H. Whymper; his drawing is preserved in the British Museum. "Five skates… Continue reading Bone skates in the Guildhall Museum
Ryan Stevens, who writes the Skate Guard blog, has taken on the gargantuan task of making sense of all the books on figure skating published in the last century and a quarter by continuing F. W. Foster’s 1898 Bibliography of Skating. It's a job worth doing and Stevens is to be commended for taking it… Continue reading Stevens’ Bibliography of Figure Skating
I have completed my translation of the first German book on skating, Gerhard Ulrich Anton Vieth's Ueber das Schrittschuhlaufen. It was originally a lecture given in Dessau in 1788, then published as a journal article in 1789, and finally published in book form with some additions by an anonymous editor in 1790. Vieth's book is… Continue reading Vieth, On Skating
The cover of the Home Farm Books reprint. Note the misused comma! Young men planning to spend the winter at an Alpine resort (which lots of rich English people did back in the day) and get involved in winter sports while there are the intended audience of this book, which was published in 1927. The… Continue reading Lunn’s Letters to Young Winter Sportsmen
The cover of my edition of Frostiana. Frostiana is a book about various ice activities that was allegedly (but probably not literally) published on the ice during the last London Frost Fair in 1814. I put together an edition of it a few years ago. The whole book is a collection of previous works, generally… Continue reading Frostiana’s chapter on skating
On January 23, 1917, Joseph Henry Ferodowill of St. Paul, MN, was granted a patent for his skate holder. It's basically two C clamps on a metal base, with some screws that make it adjustable. Popular Mechanics Magazine, vol. 48, no. 4 (October, 1927), p. 160. The advertisement says it's good for "Lengthwise and Cross"… Continue reading The Ferodowill skate holder
The Berghman Skate Sharpener This little handheld sharpening device was patented in 1920 by George H. Berghman of Chicago, IL. You squeeze the handles together at the top to open it. When you release the pressure, it clamps onto the sides of the blade. Then you slide it back and forth and the grinding stone… Continue reading The Berghman Skate Sharpener
McFarland, my publisher, is offering 40% off when you shop with code HOLIDAY22 through November 28. That means you can get my bone skates book for $27 instead of the usual $45. After that, the code will get you 25% off for the rest of the holiday season. The code is good storewide. They have… Continue reading Skates Made of Bone is on sale