THE ART OF SKATING; CONTAINING MANY FIGURES NEVER PREVIOUSLY DESCRIBED, WITH ILLUSTRATIONS, DIAGRAMS, AND PLAIN DIRECTIONS FOR THE ACQUIREMENT OF THE BY GEORGE ANDERSON ("CYCLOS"), VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE CRYSTAL PALACE SKATING CLUB, AND FOR MANY YEARS THIRD EDITION. LONDON: HORACE COX, 346, STRAND, W.C. 1873. 268. b. 146 PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. THE second edition of this little work has been absorbed much more quickly than the first, and the great favour into which skating has grown of late years, and the increased desire to learn its more difficult movements, seem to warrant the publication of a third edition. Shortly after the publication of the second edition, a more important work on the subject appeared, under the joint authorship of two accomplished skaters of the London Club, Messrs. Vandervell and Witham. These gentlemen, in their preface, were pleased to say that, previous to their own, "The Art of Skating," by "Cyclos," was "the only work at all worthy of the art;" and in frequent passages they acknowledged its merits, speaking of it as a work with which "every skater ought to be familiar." The author of the present little book has pleasure in acknowledging that their work was a large advance in the literature of the art, and that in its highest branches of accomplishment they bring forward much that he never knew, and which, alas! now he may never hope to attain, for, as one begins to go down the hill, it becomes painfully evident that not only is it doubly difficult to achieve any new success, but impaired health, nerve, and vigour make it impossible to retain even the old. |