A Waterstones salesperson has delighted book lovers with a heartwarming tale of discovery, nostalgia and connection.
Brian Cohen, a bookseller at Waterstones in the Trafford Centre in Manchester, has told how a customer was able to make a new purchase with National Book Tokens issued 50 years ago – and it’s tickled people online.
Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Brian wrote: ‘A @Waterstones customer paid with these National Book Tokens (NBTs) today, found in a drawer belonging to her 92 year old father.’
Posting a picture of the three paper book tokens, Brian added: ‘Pretty sure these designs were issued in the 1970s, but @book_tokens never expire!’
The charming post, which has been viewed almost 98,000 times, clearly struck a chord with X users, with a number of people reminiscing about the old NBTs in their replies.
Brian told The Bookseller that the customer had used the tokens, which had a total value of £5.50, to buy children’s book The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesie.
He added: ‘I’ve been a Waterstones Bookseller for 22 years, and this is only the second time I’ve seen Book Tokens of this vintage—the last time was in 2014 for £5.’
The first time, Brian got in touch with NBT, which assured him the tokens’ design dated to the 1970s.
A Waterstones customer found these National Book Tokens dating to the 1970s in her 92-year-old father’s draw
Bookseller Brian Cohen posted the book tokens, which were issued 50 years ago, online – and received an overwhelming response
As such, he didn’t have any trouble dating the latest tokens to the same period.
He added: ‘I was born in 1976, so there’s a good chance these tokens are older than I am. The vouchers would certainly have bought a lot more books for the money back when they were first given.’
The veteran bookseller – he’s been at Waterstones for 22 years – enjoyed feeling connected to ‘a prior era of bookselling,’ he told the publication.
While NBTs do not expire, the customer clearly doubted they would be accepted after so long, even calling ahead to check that they could be redeemed against a book.
The only issue, Brian told the publication, was with the till software, which did not recognise the paper 50p token.
This problem was soon resolved, though, by substituting part of the transaction for cash.
Many of those who viewed Brian’s post on X were touched by the tale, with a number of people taking the opportunity to reminisce about receiving NBTs.
One person wrote: ‘I think I’d have kept them, they are beautiful’.
A number of X users reminisced about receiving similar book tokens when they were younger while others pondered what the tokens would have bought in the 1970s
Another added: ‘I absolutely loved getting a book token for Christmas‘.
A third X user revealed: ‘We bought a former school building (empty for 7 years) and found a whole pile of ancient book tokens. We put them to ver good use when we discovered the were still valid!’
Moved by the story, someone else posted: ‘What a great piece of social history. Love that she could still use them!’.
A fifth person joked: ‘Roald Dahl used to send me a book token every birthdayuntil I was 12. I recognise the typography on the one on the right from the 70s’.
Other X users wondered about what the tokens would have bought at the time they were issued.
Waterstones delighted a customer by allowing her to use the tokens to purchase children’s book The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesie
A sixth person commented: ‘Just think of the number of books £2.50 would have got you back then! A pity he didn’t spend them…’
A seventh expressed a similar view, writing: ‘I’d love to know what £5.50 would buy in the year they were issued…’
An eight user, however, was less interested in the purchasing power of the tokens than their potential value as an antique.
Their sobering response read: ‘Should have sold them on ebay…’