Should you wish to know, there are two thank-you gifts that are always a most acceptable alternative to payment for a talk to a local group or society. One is a bottle of champagne, naturally. Enough said. But the other is a book token. The relatively small sums of money involved would get lost in general expenditure if they were not ring-fenced for a treat. And it is a treat, going into a bookshop with a token to spend, then browsing, choosing and taking a stack of books home to open immediately. A gift of time as well as money, it’s a long way from the efficient click-and-deliver model of book acquisition (although some booksellers also accept book tokens for online shopping). I found a small stash of unspent tokens the other day and went gleefully off to acquire the Booker shortlist for free. 

Book tokens – almost a century old – are a development of a longer association between Christmas and books. During the 19th century, annuals – decorated confections of poetry and illustration, in colourful bindings exchanged particularly by women – were a dominant Christmas gift. Copies of The Keepsake or