posted on 25 Jul 2016

Missing the bus

A minor vice of mine is seeking out small collectibles relating to reading. I keep my eyes open for affordable prints and paintings, bookends, figurines and geegaws of one sort or another and so, a little while ago, when I stumbled over a notice relating to the sale of the bookmobile shown in the illustration above, I sat up and took notice.

As fate would have it, the on-line auction site selling this tin toy was closing its offer about 30 minutes after I saw the advertisement and, not having an account with them, I missed out. I wasn’t unduly disappointed at that stage however because I thought (foolishly as it turns out) that I should easily be able to track down another somewhere. They may not be cheap ( someone paid a little over $700 for the one I missed) but there must be others around – mustn’t there?

Bookmobiles are largely – although not exclusively – an American phenomenon. They are travelling libraries that were developed to spend their time touring the small towns of the States where, because of the relatively small populations of these places, there was no chance of an established library being founded. As the services developed in different States, so their objectives began to change as well – often operating in urban environments in order to bring books to communities that might not otherwise get the chance to borrow books.

Britain too had its mobile libraries – indeed one of the first ever recorded was in Cumbria in 1857 and its objective was to  "diffuse good literature among the rural population". However, one of the most familiar uses of the bookmobile in the UK and the US was to bring books to schools and to children who might not experience books in the home. Bookmobile services of one kind or another still exist of course in a limited way but the vintage model shown here is the one which evokes real nostalgia.

You will probably have guessed by now, my confidence that I would be able to track down another version, boxed or unboxed, has proved to be entirely unfounded. I can’t find one anywhere! And it now haunts my life. Whenever I’m out and about and anywhere near an antique or junk shop, a flea fair or even a boot sale I’m always looking out for the elusive bookmobile. But it’s never there. I scour the internet, convinced there must be another for sale – surely someone in the whole US bought one and wants to sell it? But no, nothing.

So think of me when you’re out and about and if you ever see a glorious tinplate toy of the bookmobile grab it and let me know – I will pay you handsomely for the privilege of owning it. I know that’s going to puzzle some of you (why on earth does an old man want a child’s toy)  - and I’m not sure why it means so much to me to own one. But, what the hell, I just need to have it........

Terry Potter

July 2016