Libraries in Art and Storytelling

Below are illustrations of libraries — public and private — in paintings and in picture books.

Mary Dawson Elwell (1874-1952) East Yorkshire library

The Bookworm, by German painter Carl Spitzweg (1850). Grohmann Museum

Maid Reading in a Library by Edouard John Menta (Swiss, 1858-1915)

Andre Castaigane, The Nile by Marie Van Vorst, Harper’s Monthly Magazine, May 1908

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein page 179 illustration by Bernie Wrightson 1977

Helen Allingham – Lessons

Duncan Grant’s Post-Impressionist style portrait of artist Vanessa Bell c1916

Norman Mills Price (1877 – 1951)

Kyle Keeley is the class clown, popular with most kids, (if not the teachers), and an ardent fan of all games: board games, word games, and particularly video games. His hero, Luigi Lemoncello, the most notorious and creative gamemaker in the world, just so happens to be the genius behind the building of the new town library.
Lucky Kyle wins a coveted spot to be one of the first 12 kids in the library for an overnight of fun, food, and lots and lots of games. But when morning comes, the doors remain locked. Kyle and the other winners must solve every clue and every secret puzzle to find the hidden escape route. And the stakes are very high.
In this cross between Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and A Night in the Museum, Agatha Award winner Chris Grabenstein uses rib-tickling humor to create the perfect tale for his quirky characters. Old fans and new readers will become enthralled with the crafty twists and turns of this ultimate library experience.

Welcome, boys and girls, readers of all ages, to the first-ever Library Olympiad! Kyle and his teammates are back, and the world-famous game maker, Luigi Lemoncello, is at it again!

This time Mr. Lemoncello has invited teams from all across America to compete in the first ever LIBRARY OLYMPICS. Will it be fun? Like the commercials say. . . HELLO? It’s a Lemoncello! But something suspicious is going on . . . books are missing from Mr. Lemoncello’s library. Is someone trying to CENSOR what the kids are reading?! In between figuring out mind-boggling challenges, the kids will have to band together to get to the bottom of this mystery.

Now it’s not just a game—can Mr. Lemoncello find the real defenders of books and champions of libraries?

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Tama is sent to live in a War Relocation Center in the desert. All Japanese Americans from the West Coast—elderly people, children, babies—now live in prison camps like Minidoka. To be who she is has become a crime, it seems, and Tama doesn’t know when or if she will ever leave. Trying not to think of the life she once had, she works in the camp’s tiny library, taking solace in pages bursting with color and light, love and fairness. And she isn’t the only one. George waits each morning by the door, his arms piled with books checked out the day before. As their friendship grows, Tama wonders: Can anyone possibly read so much? Is she the reason George comes to the library every day?

John Arthur Lomax – A Favourite Author

‘My Prisons’ (Of the Duties of Men and various Poems – Life and Works) – Cover illustrator unknown, 1952

What if your favorite characters came to life? Billy’s spending the summer in a lakeside cabin that belongs to the mysterious Dr. Libris. But something strange is going on. Besides the security cameras everywhere, there’s Dr. Libris’s private bookcase. Whenever Billy opens the books inside, he can hear sounds coming from the island in the middle of the lake. The clash of swords. The twang of arrows. Sometimes he can even feel the ground shaking. It’s almost as if the stories he’s reading are coming to life! But that’s impossible . . . isn’t it?
See also: Island Symbolism In Children’s Stories

The Lure of Books 1911 by Coles Phillips, Life Magazine

Ladies Reading Art by Arthur Ignatius Keller

Maurice Leloir – In the Library 1890

John Arthur Lomax – In the Library

Reginald Higgins (1877-1933) 1923 illustration for Illustrated London News

James Stephanoff, Buckingham House East Library

James Stephanoff, Buckingham House Octagon Library, 1818

The Library by Marie Louise Roosevelt Pierrepont, 1941

The library from Wolf Children

The library from Oliver by Birgitta Sif

Sempé

The Incredible Book Eating Boy by Oliver Jeffers. The lines converge to give the impression of many, many books.

Madeline Finn DOES NOT like to read. Not books. Not magazines. Not even the menu on the ice cream truck.

Fortunately, Madeline Finn meets Bonnie, a library dog. Reading out loud to Bonnie isn’t so bad. When Madeline Finn gets stuck, Bonnie doesn’t mind. Madeline Finn can pet her until she figures the word out.

As it turns out, it’s fun to read when you’re not afraid of making mistakes. Bonnie teaches Madeline Finn that it’s okay to go slow. And to keep trying. And to get support from a friend.

Edward Ardizzone (1900-1979) The Little Bookroom by Eleanor Farjeon

Richard Scarry mobile library

Header illustration: Anna Alma-Tadema, Library at Townsend House (1880s)