Before Amazon, We Had Bookmobiles: 15+ Rare Photos Of Libraries-On-Wheels

Long before Amazon, Audible, and other digital book distributors, bookmobiles were bringing literature to peoples’ doorsteps. Their mission was to provide the written word to remote villages and city suburbs that had no libraries. We invite you to remember these almost forgotten four-wheelers of the past.

The first bookmobile is believed to have appeared in Warrington, England in the late 1850s. It was a horse-drawn cart, and lent about 12,000 books during its first year of service. Later, mobile libraries were installed inside vehicles and reached the height of their popularity in the mid-20th century when they had become a part of Americal life.

Although bookmobiles are still operated in some parts of the world by libraries, schools, activists, and other organizations, they are widely thought to be an outdated service due to high costs, advanced technology and impracticality.

#1 An Opened Bookmobile, 1925

#2 The First Bookmobile Of The Public Library Of Cincinnati, 1927

#3 A Mobile Library In Kurdistan, Iran, 1970

#4 Inside A Bookmobile, 1960s

#5 One Of The Library Bookmobiles, C. 1948.

#6 A Bookmobile In Indonesia, Early 20th Century.

#7 The Bookmobile In Columbia Park, C. 1940

#8 Bookmobile

#9 Book Caravan In Iowa, C.1927

#10 Multnomah County Library, 1926

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#11 Greensboro, North Carolina, 1936

#12 An Impatient Queue For A Dutch Bookmobile

#13 The Library’s Bookmobile On Compton Road, C.1933

#14 Three Of The Bookmobile Staff, C.1930

#15 Craig Medvigny (left) And David Sutton Enjoying A Book; Eleanor Mann Substitute Traveling Branch Librarian, C. 1920s

#16 Mrs. Josie Sanders, Richard Sanders, Jerome Sanders And Two Younger Children. C1950s

#17 A Horse-drawn Cart In Washington In The 1900s. It Was One Of The First American Bookmobiles, Built In 1905, But Was Hit And Destroyed By A Train In 1910

#18 A Bookmobile In Indonesia, Early 20th Century.

#19 A Mobile Library In Canterbury

#20 A Boston Public Library Bookmobile, 1963

#21 A Bus With A View, 1967

#22 Utah State Library Bookmobile On The Road Circa 1970

#23 The Library’s Bookmobile

#24 Children Gathering At The Bookmobile, C. 1912

#25 Children Gathering At The Kern County Free Library Bookmobile At Aztec School, 1947

#26 A Very Fine Bookmobile Owned By The New Castle County Free Library

#27 Rockville Fair, Maryland, 1928

#28 A Circulating Library In A Streetcar In Munich, Germany

#29 Bookmobile At Anne Arundel County Fair, 1973

#30 Sanpete County Bookmobile

#31 Summer Rural Service, 1936

#32 Bookmobile

#33 The Book Caravan, One Of The First Traveling Bookshops, 1920.

#34 Books Free For Everybody, Right At The Door – If You Vote «yes»

#35 Library Bookmobiles In Front Of Union Terminal

#36 The Library’s Bookmobile In Sharonville, Circa 1938

#37 California State Library Bookmobile, C. 1950

#38 Patrons Visiting The Bookmobile

#39 Bookmobile, Southgate District, C. 1920s

#40 Bookmobile In Madrid Spain

#41 The Library’s First Bookmobile, C. 1927

#42 A Czech Book Truck

#43 Onboard The Connecticut State Library’s Bookmobile With Margaret Sullivan And Marcella Finan, 1967

#44 Chris Junapa Standing In The Bookmobile, 1980

#45 Patrons Visiting The Bookmobile

#46 Patrons Visit The Bookmobile In 1962. Mrs James B. Wilson, Librarian, Performs Readers’ Advisory Service At Far Right

#47 Carolyn Herntz Assists Patrons Visiting The Bookmobile, 1958

#48 Patrons Visiting The Bookmobile

#49 A Photo Of The Bookmobile From Washington County (md) Free Library

#50 Bookmobile At Headquarters, 1977

#51 Presentation Of The New Bookmobile At The Paris Colonial Exposition Held In Paris France, 1931

#52 Bookmobile, About 1925

#53 Bookmobile Interior, May 1927

#54 Bookmobile, 1930s

#55 Summer Book Wagon, 1928

#56 Bookmobile, 1924

#57 Kids At Bookmobile

#58 A Tram In Berlin With 2400 Books In Berlin, 1952

#59 Framingham Public Library, 1956

#60 Utah State Library Bookmobile On The Road, 1970

#61 The Bookmobile Of Providence Public Library, 1967

#62 Paul Buttars, Former Manager Of The Utah State Library Bookmobile Program, In One Of The “older” Bookmobiles. Taken In Chesterfield, Ut, C.1975