The Pocket Bookmobile

This adorable bookmobile-shaped brochure from 1952 was to promote service for the library on wheels in the state of Maryland. According to Larry Nix at the Library History Buff Blog, the first traveling bookmobile service in the US actually began in Hagerstown, Maryland in 1905. It was a wagon pulled by 2 horses with enough space for 200 books on the outside and additional space for more books on the inside of the wagon. The driver of the wagon did double duty as the janitor of the library. 
      Prior to the bookmobile, there were traveling libraries with small rotating collections of books which were stationed for months on end at convenient locations such as a post office, store or someone's home. This allowed for library service to be extended to rural areas across the US in the late 19th century. 
      Bringing books to the people has a long legacy around the world, yet it's unfortunate the bookmobile barely coasted into the 21st century before it became roadkill. Call me a sentimental old bibliofool, but I miss having a traveling library on wheels. 
Hey Amazon! Give us an eReader shaped like a bookmobile why don't you?

Read! Read! Read! Read! Read! Read!

In early 1971, a city librarian in the town of Troy, Michigan wrote to dozens of actors, authors, artists, politicians, writers and musicians and asked them to write a letter to the children of Troy about the importance of libraries and books. These 3 letters above were among 97 letters she received in reply. Read the full story here. As usual, these images are always clickable.
:: From the Troy Library Flickrstream.

Overdue Library Fragrance

It's about time Bibliophiles had a fragrance all their own. Nothing like the warm blend of old paper in an English novel with a hint of leather bindings and worn cloth to remind you of old bookstores and libraries. CB I Hate Perfume is the collector and creator of scents for custom perfumes. In The Library scent was inspired from a favorite edition of a rare 1927 1st edition novel found in London many years ago. CB, the maker of the perfume said it had a marvelous worm-woody, slightly sweet smell and set about to bottle it. This unisex fragrance is available in four sizes from the CBIHPs site from $12 to $65. Overdue fees do not apply...Just so he doesn't try to bottle that Old Man in the Sea odor.

360 Degree View of Prague Library

Read a fascinating story from Wired about a 360 degree photograph of Prague's Philosophical Hall, a Baroque reading room in the city's 868-year-old Strahov Monastery Library. And then view the 40 gigapixel photo produced by photographer Jeffrey Martin here. This room is a repository of rare books and is typically off limits to the public. Martin received special permission to spend the five days of shooting it took to make the composite image. The camera took another 111 hours of post-processing in order to stitch together the nearly 3000 images of the final 360 degree photo. You can actually scan the entire room of the finished photograph and zoom in close enough to read some of the titles on the rare books. Quite remarkable.
:: Via Bookshelf Porn

Way Overdue Library Books

Out of Order, an exhibit on researching patterns at Gallery Fons Welters, Amsterdam, 2005. Installation of 53 sun-bleached library books from the Gerrit Rietveld Library collection by Marianne Viero and Laurenz Brunner.

:: Via Fuck Yeah Bookarts

Library To Go

I posted on some examples of traveling libraries a few months ago, but here is another nice miniature model of one. Wish I knew who created this. If anyone knows, please let me know. I really hate it when credits are not attached to an image. It was obviously not posted by a librarian!

:: As found at Great Books Great Quotes

Miniature World

How do you say, petite? These happen to be images of miniature dioramas, or realities, as the artist Dan Ohlmann likes to refer to them. My husband and I discovered Ohlmann's Musée Des Miniatures et Decors de Cinema in the old part of Lyon a couple of years ago and were astounded at the quality of his work we saw there. He had many miniature displays, but I am only spotlighting the library and the print shop here. Each set is about the size of your average microwave and built with exquisite attention to detail. Earlier in his career, Ohlmann worked as a sculptor and interior designer, and later did a lot of work for the theater and movie industry which became a perfect training ground for creating miniature sets. For the past 20 years or so, he has almost entirely devoted himself to the creation of these miniatures with the aid of a crew of skilled artists who assist him. Viewing his beautiful miniature sets gave me chills and a feeling of voyeurism as if I were stepping into a frame frozen in time where you can smell the ink on the press and see the paint peeling off the wall. There are no people in any of his motionless realities as Ohlmann prefers to have the viewer enter each room with their mind. These are 3D snapshots of an earlier era, complete with dramatic lighting and the faded colors of an old postcard. I was speechless just scrutinizing every tiny detail. 

The first two images above are of an old library. All the muddy images with glass glare are my own. The  2nd photo above is from the Museums' own website. The images below are of the old print shop. What was curious to me about this print shop is there are a couple of old type cabinets for setting metal type by hand, but the shop appears to only have offset presses. Maybe they were just in that transition stage of updating equipment? I do love the handcart of finished press sheets and the stacks of piled paper in the back room. More images of Ohlmanns' miniature creations can be seen on this flickr site.

The History of Printing at a Glance

It's ironic that an exhibition on the history of printing is available only online, but in this case, I am delighted it is available. One of the country's premiere libraries on graphic communication history and practices, The Cary Graphic Arts Collection at the Rochester Institute of Technology, presents the online exhibit, The Printer's Manual, An Illustrated History. There  are 31 images on classic and unusual texts on printing from the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. Curator David Pankow provides excellent documentation on each item in the exhibit.

The image at the top is from The Printer's Grammer, or Introduction to the Art of Printing, 1808 by Caleb Stower. The bottom image shows some word and letterspacing run amuck in the Scottish text, The History of the Art of Printing, 1713 by James Watson. Pankow describes the work as an extended poetic metaphor on the relationship between God the master printer and the creatures of his creation, symbolized as pages of type. 

Please Use Your Library Voices Here!

As tension increases in Egypt over the protests demanding the ouster of President Mubarak, Ismail Serageldin, the Librarian and Director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, reports it is the youth—both anti-government opponents and supporters of Mubarak—who have been joining hands to protect the famed library during the bounds of the curfew hours. Not only is it a remarkable sight to see these opposed groups holding hands, but I am so impressed to see it is the youth who are holding these institutions sacred! A bit ironic perhaps—as most young people I know just rely on the Google for everything—but it gives me great optimism on both accounts if this story is true. I do hope calm is soon restored and change comes to Egypt as it is so deserved. See more photos of events and a video here.

Below is an image of the granite exterior of the new library with 120 different scripts carved into the stone surface.

From the Library Stacks

A sectional view of the New York Public Library in 1911 showing seven tiers of stacks.
::From the NYPL Digital Gallery.

Traveling Libraries

Louis Vuitton's legendary book trunk from 1923 PG. (Pre-Google.)






















On a lighter note, artist Todd Pattison of Andover, Massachusettes, altered a found 19th C leather binding with fore-edge clasps to create a little library containing 72 little books. Bound in leather and paper bindings, each book opens and ranges in height from 1 to 1.5". His work is included in the traveling Guild of Bookworkers exhibit, Marking Time which is currently at Dartmouth College Library until March 20th.

Decorated Papers

The Manchester Metropolitan University Library has a nice collection of marbled and decorated paste papers along with historical decorated endpaper samples in the Schmoller Collection of their image archive. This vast collection is the culmination of a lifelong pursuit by collectors Hans and Tanya Schmoller. Hans Schmoller (1916-1985) was a renowned typographer and was Production Manager, and later Director at Penguin Books. The Special Collections of the library also offers other ephemera, posters and book arts-related materials for viewing as well. Copyright restrictions apply on most images, except for educational use. Other uses require permission and copyright notice. Via Bibliodyssey.

Librophiliac Love Letter

Over at Curious Expeditions, you can go on a journey to some of the world's most beautiful libraries. Oh, the places you'll go...

The Biblioteca do Palacio e Convento de Mafra I, Lisbon Coast, Portugal.


The Peabody Library, Baltimore, Maryland.


The Yale Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, New Haven, Connecticut.