15 rare photos of ancient mobile libraries that were long before Amazon

Long before Amazon, Audible, and other digital book distributors appeared, mobile libraries brought literature to the doorsteps of ordinary people's homes. Their mission was to bring the written word to remote villages and to the city outskirts, where there were no libraries. Let's see how these wonderful mobile vehicles looked like.

The first mobile library is believed to have appeared in the English Warrington, in the late 1850s. It was an ordinary horse-drawn cart. In the first year of service, about 12,000 books were delivered to it. Later, mobile libraries were housed inside vehicles, and their popularity peaked in the mid-20th century. By then, they had already become an integral part of American life.

The most amazing thing is that mobile libraries still exist in some parts of the world. They are organized by ordinary libraries, schools and activists. But, of course, due to the high cost, advanced technology and impracticality, these services are considered very outdated.

Open Mobile Library, 1925

First Cincinnati Public Library Mobile Library, 1927

Mobile Library in Kurdistan, Iran, 1970

Inside the mobile library, 1960s

Mobile Library, 1948

Mobile library in Indonesia, early 20th century

Mobile library in the park, Colombia, 1940

Mobile library

Iowa Book Caravan, 1927

Multnomah Library, 1926

Greensboro, North Carolina, 1936

Looking forward to the Dutch Mobile Library

Three employees of the mobile library, 1930

Mobile Library at Compton Road, 1933

Children in the Mobile Library, 1920

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