Where Books and
Travel, Collecting
and Curiosity Collide
Welcome to my corner of the world, where stories live not just on the page but in conversation, travel, and the thrill of discovery. From backroom bookshops in Buenos Aires to the archives of Oxford, I chase the ideas, objects, and oddities that make print culture endlessly fascinating. Think of this as your passport to the beautifully bookish.
Meet Nigel Beale
A biblio-tourist who travels the world collecting books and magazines, and buys the occasional teapot. He’s best known for a podcast he hosts called The Biblio File which features long-form conversations about books and print culture (words and graphics, contents and object), and examines the roles that authors, poets, publishers, booksellers, editors, book collectors, printers, scholars, literary critics, graphic designers, publicists, literary agents and others play along the ‘communications circuit’ - inside the book and magazine trades and out - from writer to reader.
THE BIBLIO FILE PODCAST
Conversations
to Bookmark
Because the world of books is bigger (and far more interesting) than bestseller lists.
The Biblio File is where I talk with the people who make the literary world turn — writers, editors, designers, critics, and the occasional mischief-maker. With more than 650 long-form interviews, it’s a deep dive into print culture: the art, the business, the obsession.
You’ll hear about the thrill of discovery, the agony of editing, the charm of old presses, and the joy of good design. Think of it as an ongoing conversation about why books still matter — and why they always will.
ARTICLES, ESSAYS, CRITICISM, REVIEWS
Where Great Minds
& Good Books Meet
Reflections on literature, art, and culture for the curious
These writings linger where stories meet analysis — part personal essay, part cultural critique. They explore what makes a book sing, a review sting, and an idea endure. Less hot take, more slow burn: thoughtful reading for those who appreciate language with depth and a touch of mischief.
“How many cities have revealed themselves to me in the marches I undertook in the pursuit of books!”
- Walter Benjamin, Illuminations: Essays and Reflections
Vintage Magazines
& Collectibles
Buy the Magazine. Keep the Story.
I collect and sell vintage travel and literary magazines because, frankly, they’re gorgeous — relics of a time when editors were fearless, writers were unapologetically wordy, and design meant something.
Every issue tells its own story: the fonts, the photography, even the ads whisper something about who we were and what we valued. If you love the feel of a good page between your fingers — or you just like the smell of history — this collection’s for you.
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING
Words About Words
From devoted readers, curious listeners, and the occasional literary legend.
"I wanted to thank you for your many generous and intelligent words about my new book How Fiction Works (and other stuff)... I get great pleasure from reading your blog."
— Critic, James Wood, The New Yorker
“You can find very bad writing and sloppy impressionism in literary blogs, but also incisive, fresh, thoughtful criticism from voices unencumbered by the politics of Grub St". I would put your blog in the latter category, which is why I’m responding here… Congratulations on a very fine blog."
— Scholar, Dr. Ronan McDonald, author of The Death of the Critic
"I listened to your excellent interview with Sandra Campbell the other day, about her Lorne Pierce biography. As usual, I was captivated throughout — penetrating questions eliciting interesting answers; a great sense of both the foreground life in the biography, and the larger significance of that life. Your questions are always well-informed because you have read the book both sympathetically and critically. Your podcasts are an essential feature of the Canadian cultural landscape."
— Best-selling popular historian Charlotte Gray
Travel for the
Bookish Soul
Little journeys through bookshops, libraries, and literary lives.
Being a “literary tourist” can mean many things: wandering through used bookshops, attending festivals, visiting authors’ homes, or chatting with the person who runs your favorite small press. For me, it’s all of that — plus the joy of meeting the people who make and love books.
These essays document those encounters: the thrill of finding a first edition in a back alley in Paris, the quiet genius of a printer in Toronto, the smell of ink in an old bindery. They’re travelogues for the curious — part memoir, part cultural anthropology, all love letter to print.
Curiosity Is Contagious
Subscribe for fresh conversations, literary dispatches, and the occasional rabbit hole.
Get on the list and I’ll send you updates on new podcast episodes, essays, and whatever else I stumble upon while traveling the world in search of print and meaning.