Bibliophemera

So National Bookmobile Day was several days ago--April 22nd to be exact--and I had no idea there was a day for that. Better late than never, I have a couple of wire service photos to share about a bookmobile in 1949 making the rounds for its patrons young and old in Muskegon County, Michigan. The message inherent in the pair, intended or not, conveys the joy of books for all ages, but I also see something in there about reading habits developed early in childhood staying with children throughout their lives. The young children in the bookmobile appear totally engrossed in the books they have found. A line forms outside the bookmobile and anticipation builds for finding a treasure inside. There is equal engagement with books by the older couple in the second photo. The woman, with her warm smile, appears to enjoy her selection while the man intently ponders two books in his hand, perhaps trying to make a decision with the help of the woman in the bookmobile. ...

This press photo from 1940 shows a cab-over tractor trailer truck serving as a bookmobile, or Branch Library on Wheels, from the Detroit Library Commission, which governed the   Detroit Public Library .  This rig full of books is parked and posing at Cadillac Square. Most photos I've seen, or have in my collection, depict bookmobiles as more of the van or motorhome-looking variety, so it's nice to have something different like this in my collection. An editor's crop marks appear in the margins and just under the rear wheels of the truck. In the background is a building with the name Sam's and ads for discount merchandise. The reverse side of the photo identifies the location and date, as well as editor's notes, and the photographer's name--McGraw, whom I've determined to be  Howard McGraw . Curious about the location, I searched the Internet for images of Cadillac Square and found the one below from DetroitYes.com . It has a bird's eye view ...

This photo is cropped from the photo below that features a page from a 1922 issue of the once popular, long-defunct Italian publication L'Illustrazione Italiana . UNA NUOVA INIZIATIVA PER LA DIFFUSIONE DEL LIBRO proclaims the title at the top of the photo, or, in English (as best I can tell), A New Initiative for Distributing Books . I assumed at first this early bookmobile in Firenza (Florence) must be affiliated with a local library. Translating the caption below the photo and researching clues within it, I learned otherwise. The caption reads: L'AUTOCARRO LIBRERIA DEGLI EDITORI TREVES E DELL'ANONIMA LIBRARIA ITALIANA, FOTOGRAFAT IN FIRENZE DURANTE IL SUO VIAGGIO INAUGURALE or, in my best attempt at English through an Internet translation site, " The truck bookstore of the publisher Treves and of the anonymous Italian  books  , photographed in Florence during its inaugural journey ." So the bookmobile was a publisher's method of...

As defined in Webster's Third New International Dictionary , the giant one that will give you a hernia trying to pick it up, a bookmobile is defined as an autotruck with shelves of books that serves as an itinerant library or bookstore . So when is a bookmobile not a bookmobile? How about when it's a trailer, which is not an autotruck. A trailer is not mobile unless being pulled by a car or truck. But that technicality didn't get in the way of proclaiming the trailers below (two postcards and a photo) to be bookmobiles by their respective libraries. First up is what looks like a recycled horse trailer, being used by the National Catholic Community Service (NCCS) for the USO during World War II.   This was the first library trailer image in my collection and the reason for acquiring the next two images. I found the concept of a trailer an interesting alternative to the traditional autotruck bookmobile, a throwback to the horse and wagon or Parnassus ...

I'm always on the lookout for bookmobile ephemera and history. I came across both on blogs this weekend, each providing its own interactive experience for viewers who have an interest in bookmobiles and traveling libraries. The Book Patrol blogged yesterday about a paper bookmobile model that I thought was creative and interesting--something I might forward to my younger nieces and nephew to play around with. The architect behind this clever piece of paper art is Bob Staake . Of course, I had to try it for myself. It looked easy enough. Just print out the design on Staake's site and start cutting. Easy, it is not. It's been too many decades since I played with scissors and paper. After about a minute, I grew tired of the exercise. But I managed to complete the obstacle course of tabs and tires without snipping off anything essential. The next challenge presented itself in short order: Fold and tuck the tabs and glue the whole thing together. Again, easi...

It's been awhile since a bookmobile rolled though this blog, but here comes one now--the C.M.S. Travelling Bookshop from Freetown, Sierra Leone in West Africa. C.M.S. stands for Church Missionary Society , founded in London in 1799. They didn't take long to get to Sierra Leone, just five years later in 1804 with their first overseas mission work. I don't know when the book shop got started, nor when they put their books on wheels to reach more folks, but this postcard appears to depict an early 1960s bookmobile. A note on the back indicates the pictured vehicle has been replaced. And, from scouring the Web, there appears to be a network of CMS book shops across the many countries where the Society is active. Perhaps there is no need, or maybe no budget, for CMS bookmobiles today, but judging by the crowd gathering in the postcard image, there definitely was a need some fifty years ago.