On the wonderful blog Retronaut, this intriguing image is twinned with a caption vague to the point of inscrutability. To wit,

c. 1940s:
Man with books

The whole thing is rendered even more mysterious by the fact that the individual in question is obviously a woman. Or at the very least a man in tweedy drag. But more to the point, WHAT ARE ALL THESE ENORMOUS BOOKS? In the grand tradition of the Tootsie pop, the world may never know.