The Special Collections Book of the Week this week is:

Bicycles in the Anglo Boer War 1899-1902 by D. R. Maree.

Today is World Bicycle Day, a good time to read up on a little-known aspect of the Anglo Boer War.

The first time that bicycles were used successfully in a military capacity was after the Spanish War of 1898 and they proved unexpectedly effective. For several years before the Anglo-Boer War the bicycle had been used in South Africa for para-military purposes and occasionally unofficially for military purposes, but the real test of its usefulness in war still to come. This book discusses to what extent and with how much success the bicycle was utilized in the Anglo-Boer War.

Access: https://univofpretoria.on.worldcat.org/oclc/220650403

This book is available at Special Collections, housed on level 5 of the Merensky 2 Library, and is part of our Africana (ZA) Collection.

The Special Collections unit of the Department of Library Services plays a stewardship role in the acquisition and preservation of the Library's rare and valuable information resources, making t hem accessible to students, staff and researchers, as well as safeguarding them for future generations.