HeyJaredBook History Bite
My name is Maria Vassilopoulos. I work in the book trade and hold a PhD in its cultural history. This newsletter is my way of sharing my work, new archive finds, and reviews of all things bookish.
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 9
- Latest publication
- Sep 18, 2026
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- Jul 11, 2026
Latest issues
The World Book Fair that wasn’t Frankfurt (opens the original)
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Hi all,I can’t believe it’s already September, and I will be off to the Frankfurt Book Fair soon. There has been a fair in Frankfurt for centuries, and books were actually sold alongside other goods from the 1400s. The book fair as we know it now has been around since 1949, and we obviously have the London Book Fair in the UK each spring. Of course, before that there were similar get-ups, and occasionally I find a brochure or catalogue for a book display to the public from the 19th century or so
Book Tallies (opens the original)
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Dear Readers,Hope you are very well and have had a good summer.Book History Bite is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</d
A Bookshop Through Time- The 2000s (opens the original)
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It is my big moment. I am going to be your official guide through bookselling in the 2000s because… I did it! Finally, some first-hand memories can be used! I got a job as a Christmas temp in Waterstones Bath in 2004 and moved to Oxford Street in 2008. I left my bookselling soul behind in 2011 but reunited with it again at the British Library, where we … Read more
A Bookshop Through Time- The 1990s (opens the original)
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The 1990s are definitely a decade I remember. The Big Breakfast, Britpop, and Euro ’96. Tony Blair and New Labour. Secondary school and college. Plastic cereal toys and Saved by the Bell. Magazines that had song lyrics in and books like The Babysitter’s Club and Point Horror. Oh, and Nintendo, which was where some of my reading time went; Super Mario Ka… Read more
A Bookshop Through Time- The 1980s (opens the original)
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I was born in 1982, and so for the majority of the 1980s I was too young to take it all in, but I have memories of watching Top of the Pops and Neighbours, learning to ride a bike and generally being a kid. We didn’t really have a bookshop close to us in the places we lived, and books were expensive to buy new, but we did have Deal library, which I love… Read more
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