The Bookshop : A History of Bookselling From the Dawn of Print to the 21st Century - Andrew Pettegree

The Bookshop : A History of Bookselling From the Dawn of Print to the 21st Century - Andrew Pettegree

Andrew Pettegree

£25.00

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  • Pages · 320 pages, 8pp colour plates
  • Publication Date · 17/09/2026
  • Genre · Antiques & collectables: books, manuscripts, ephemera & printed matter
Collect in store Pick it up free from the shop in Oxford's Covered Market, usually quicker than the post.
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Book Lovers' Happy Hour Three cocktails matched to your taste, three books chosen for you, an hour and a half at the bar. £60 per person. Book a place →
Bookshops are a comforting sight on our high streets, warm and welcoming spaces in which to browse, meet friends and occasionally buy books. They may feel timeless, yet their history is a restless and turbulent one, filled with as many entrepreneurial street hawkers and illicit trades as with beloved institutions. The Bookshop, from the celebrated author of The Library and The Book at War, explores the evolution of bookselling from the cramped collectors' shops frequented by Samuel Pepys to the radical feminist bookshops of the 70s, the rise of monolithic chains and the new world of online selling. Connecting stories and lives that span centuries, countries and continents, The Bookshop brings us into beloved bookshops of today and looks forward to the possible experience of booksellers of tomorrow.

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Book Lovers' Happy Hour

An hour and a half at the bar, with three cocktails matched to your taste and three books chosen for you. Tell us what you like when you book, and we'll have them waiting when you arrive.

  • 1½ hours
  • £60 per person
  • 3 cocktails, 3 books
Book Happy Hour

Up to four of you can come — book a place each and choose the same time slot, then tell us who you're with. For larger groups, email gulpfictionbooks@gmail.com and we'll arrange it.

Three customers at the window table in Gulp Fiction, cocktails in hand beside a stack of books, with Oxford's Covered Market visible through the glass

Collect in store

Order online and pick it up from the shop. It's free, and usually quicker than the post.

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