Barnes & Noble, the nation’s last remaining major bookstore chain, experienced steep sales declines in its digital division during the nine-week holiday period, the company announced Thursday.

Revenue in the Nook division, which includes digital content and devices, was $125 million, a 60 percent drop compared with the period a year earlier.

Sales in its brick-and-mortar bookstores were less grim, with a 6.6 percent decrease from the previous year, to $1.1 billion.

The numbers reflect Barnes & Noble’s decreasing digital ambitions, as it declined to release a new color tablet in 2013. The bookseller said it will pull back from trying to compete in the crowded tablet market against big companies like Amazon and Apple.

The release of the sales data came one day after Barnes & Noble announced that it had filled the long-vacant post of chief executive with a company insider, Michael Huseby, previously the president of Barnes & Noble and chief executive of Nook Media.

“We are pleased with our holiday sales results, especially our core comparable bookstore sales, which were essentially flat and an improvement as compared to the first half of the year,” Huseby said in a statement. “During the holiday period, we benefited from a strong lineup of best-selling titles, great execution by our booksellers and merchants, an effective advertising campaign and strong increases in our juvenile, gift and toys and games categories.”

The results, which cover the nine-week period that ended Dec. 28, are likely to further unsettle publishers, authors and agents who have fretted about Barnes & Noble’s stability for years.