It's been said that the only book to have is Every Thing About Every Thing by Every Body.  We've read it, and while the beginning was quite compelling, about midway through we lost our bookmark and decided not to try to find our place again. From The Martlet, 1977.

From The Nine Lives of a Cat by Charles Bennett, 1860.  Are nine lives only for cats?  See How to Be Your Own Cat.

There's no shame in one's literary path leading toward romances.  From the University of Chicago's 1900 yearbook.

This one has a different cover: Who Likes the Dark? by Virginia Howell.

From The Gateway, 1977.

What we call a book's "spine" is actually its face.  From Lenoir-Rhyne's 1915 yearbook.

Lots of great books here that should exist outside the illustration:

From Homespun Stories by Clara Denton, 1924.

From Fields of Applied Psychology by Anne Anastasi.

From Astrology by Ronald C. Davison.

"Underneath, the feeling that it will soon be over."  From Presbyterian College's 1969 yearbook.

We use measuring tape as a bookmark so that we're always ready for big words.  From The Film Daily, 1937.  See Webster's Dictionary of Improbable Words: All-Consonant and All-Vowel Words.

"The pleasant books, that silently among our household treasures take familiar places, and are to us as if a living tongue spake from the printed leaves or pictured faces."

From East Carolina's 1930 yearbook.

This is us, digging up your favorite posts on the internet.  From Woroni, 1982.

Buried in books.  From Millikin's 1913 yearbook.

From Black On White: The Story of Books by M. Ilin, 1932.

That's quite similar to the face we made the last time we tried to arrange a bouquet of eggs.  From Bouquet of Eggs by Genevieve Bowdoin.

I think I've read this one.

From Twilight Zone magazine, 1981 (courtesy of Archive.org).

"You will greatly oblige me by sending those books."  From Manual and Diagrams to Accompany Metcalf's Grammars, 1901.

Catching wisdom between two kites, from atop a mountain of books.  From Henderson's 1910 yearbook.