A magisterial history of bookshops and booksellers by the author of The Library and The Book at war

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.

Details

ISBN13: 9781805224372
Format: Hardback
Number of Pages: 320
Edition: Main
Publication Date: 22 Sep 2026
Publisher: Profile Books Ltd
Publication City, Country: London, United Kingdom
Dimensions (cm): 23.6(H)x15.4(L)x3.2(W)535
Weight (gm): 535

Author Biography

Andrew Pettegree, FBA, is Professor of Modern History at the University of St Andrews. He is the author of The Book at War, the prize-winning The Book in the Renaissance and co-author of The Library: A Fragile History. He is a former Vice-President of the Royal Historical Society and founding director of the Universal Short Title Catalogue.

Reviews

Stylish, authoritative and full of telling anecdotes. Andrew Pettegree is the ideal guide through half a millennium of selling books -- Dennis Duncan, author of INDEX, A HISTORY OF THE
A wonderfully wide-ranging study * Country Life *
Clearly written, packed with anecdotes, vignettes and nuggets - and, for the bookman, quite irresistible * Oldie *
A pioneering and meticulously researched history ... Pettegree's command of his sprawling subject is clear ... An essential resource for anyone interested in the largely undocumented and precarious history of bookselling * The List *
An absorbing and thorough history of the book trade whose shaky livelihoods have, for nearly 600 years, been at the mercy of the fickle vagaries of changing winds ... Scholarly and engaging -- Shaun Bythell, author of THE DIARY OF A BOOKSELLER
Pettegree reveals the hard graft and innovation behind the book trade * History Today *
At last, a history of the bookshop which paints the big picture. Every chapter of Pettegree's kaleidoscopic account has enough stories, characters and statistics to satisfy even the most curious bibliomaniac -- Roly Allen, author of THE NOTEBOOK
A unique and fascinating chronicle of the origins of bookselling and the development of the bookstores we know and love today. The Bookshop is an important contribution to the canon of literary history -- Molly Guptill Manning, author of WHEN BOOKS WENT TO WAR
In a thoroughly engaging and deeply researched narrative, he traces the sale of books by printers, pedlars and priests, from stalls in St. Paul's Churchyard to gilded department stores, from train stations to chain stores and ultimately Amazon. Pettegree chronicles the resilience of the trade in the face of censorship, banishment, and bankruptcy. This is the arresting and ultimately optimistic story of the making and marketing of print culture. Here is a book for every booklover to buy -- Jeff Jarvis, author of THE GUTENBERG PARENTHESIS
Andrew Pettegree's new book provides a lively account of what's both recognizable and strange about the way books found their way to owners and readers at other times and places. The results will make you think differently about the path through which this book reached your hands -- Leah Price, author of WHAT WE TALK ABOUT WHEN WE TALK ABOUT BOOKS
In this wide-ranging work, Andrew Pettegree, an outstanding historian of the printed word, traces all the ways that books reached readers, from peddlers' packs to the internet. His masterful survey brings together information on the book trade in many countries since the time of Gutenberg. The Bookshop will delight anyone who has shopped for books -- Robert Darnton, author of THE GREAT CAT MASSACRE