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National Book Tokens was born in 1932 when Harold Raymond, a publisher, noticed that of all the Christmas gifts received by his friends and family, only three were books.

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He questioned the "capacity for giving pleasure" of many of the presents received. Surely a book is a more welcome gift than a "hatpin, ornament, photo frame…or ashtray"?

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Harold’s conclusion was that people did not want to give books as gifts because they feared getting the wrong book.

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In 2011, paper vouchers were replaced with gift cards to make them even easier to use – but paper vouchers don’t expire and are still accepted in bookshops today!

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Since then, we’ve created gift cards you can personalise (with your own photo and message), e-Gift cards (sent straight to their inbox), and gift card designs for all booklovers and occasions – all printed on FSC-certified board instead of plastic, and can be spent with bookshops online, too.

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Bookily is our latest invention, a monthly National Book Token that gives booklovers the joy of choosing a new book every month from their favourite bookshop.

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90 years later, Harold’s invention is going strong, helping people across the UK and Ireland to share their love of books with friends and family, happy in the knowledge that they have chosen a gift worth giving – because National Book Tokens truly are gift beyond words.

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Marketing

Our marketing team work hard to make sure that everyone who loves to read is aware of National Book Tokens.

You’ll find Stacey working on our fiendish Hidden Books Game and our regular competitions, content and newsletters, while Lisa looks after our relationships with our charity partners, encourages schools to nominate themselves to win £1,000 to rebuild their library, and ensures our Christmas campaign is ready to go!

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Customer Service

Our friendly customer service team are here to help with any questions you have about our gift cards, whether that’s Mark replacing your expired cards or Uzo ensuring your personalised gift card order goes smoothly.

The team also ensure that bookshops have everything they need to sell and redeem National Book Tokens, too!

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Product and e-Commerce

Our team create gift products for every booklover, from our personalised gift cards to our e-Gift cards.

You'll find Josie in meetings with publishers and designers about our new gift card range, Petros making sure online purchases are as smooth as possible, and Alex ensuring that we all do our work (whilst providing biscuits).