The first bookmobiles appeared in England in the 1850s, but made their way over to America by the 1890s. Today, National Bookmobile Day, part of National Library Week, is all about celebrating this four-wheeled reading machines and their ability to spread the written word to far-flung places.

Above, U.S. soldiers picking up some hardbacks from a bookmobile in Texas, 1917 or so.