Wassersport (Water Sport) 1885 – No. 1, January 1, 1885

The first issue of 1885 of “Wassersport”, Berlin’s weekly journal for rowing, sailing, swimming and skating — now in English for the first time, in an interactive edition made for iPad and iPhone.

Turn the original 1885 pages, printed in Gothic type, and tap the EN button on any article: its complete English translation, with illustrations, slides up over the page. Afterwards the whole issue follows again in English, laid out like the original, with an Aa button to read every article in large type.

Published on New Year’s Day 1885, this issue opens Volume III with a look at the year ahead for German water sports. Inside: official notices of the rowing and sailing associations, the full rowing and sailing fixtures for 1885, club news from Germany and abroad, a naval review, swimming and skating reports — including a technical essay on the design of new skate curves — letters to the editor, miscellany and the readers’ forum. The feuilleton carries the travel serial “Among the Yakuts and Pecherais” and the story “Lolly and Nixe”.

A rare window into the early years of organised sport on the water, for rowers, sailors, historians and anyone who loves the 1880s.

Translated and edited by L. S. D.