Where to buy puppet books in Australia?
Please note: this post only applies to purchasing puppetry books in Australia. If you are from another country, I would suggest visiting The Puppetry Homepage, UNIMA USA, or UNIMA UK, or checking the online stores listed below.
Finding theatre and puppetry books can be one of the most frustrating and rewarding things to do. If you are at all involved in theatre, whether it is as an amateur, a student, or a professional, you will have come across the severe lack of places to buy books. In particular, most bookstores stock a wide selection of Shakespeare, but rarely have anything outside of his works. Bookstores seem to consider ‘Entertainment’ or ‘Performing Arts’ books to include only Shakespeare, music, film and TV. So here’s some good tips to finding puppetry books. Though my experience is mainly limited to the Victoria area, bookstores across Australia are pretty much the same, so you can find some useful tips here even if you are from another part of the country.
UPDATE: Looking for books by Hansjurgen Fettig? A separate post deals with that here!
Do check the rest of the Puppet Book category for book reviews. Additionally, the Book page of my website is a select list of recommended reading. Please note: I do not sell puppetry books (I wish! I have a hard time just finding books for myself :P)
I am now selling puppet patterns and tutorials on my online store here!
Physical bookstores
Generally speaking, the online stores of the following list will have a bigger range of books than in their physical stores. However, this may mean that you would need to pay for more on shipping and handling, especially if the book is a special order.
| Readings | While Readings often has a better selection of theatre books in stock than most Australian bookstores, you will find that they rarely have any puppetry books available. One might happen across The Space Between by Peter Wilson, but not much else. |
| Borders | Quite possibly the most worthless bookstore in Australia for buying puppetry books, considering the size of their stock. Although I have on occassion found something on the big name musicals, like The Lion King, you will not find anything of use in Borders. You can use their ordering system and buy from their overseas stores, but I find that Amazon works just as well and has a wider range. (In any case, Borders online stores are run by Amazon) |
| Similarly to Borders, you won’t find anything of use at A&R or Dymocks. |
| Kinokuniya (Sydney) | If you happen to be in Sydney, then check out this store. I ‘discovered’ (hey, I’m from Melbourne) this store several years ago and it had a wide range of theatre books, the widest I’ve ever seen - although nothing for puppetry. I went there at the start of this year, and to my dismay, discovered that they had severely cut their theatre section. |
Is that it? Really? No more physical bookstores…. Well, this is where the fun part is. The best places for puppetry books are not going to be mainstream stores. In fact, puppetry is such a niche market that the mainstream stores wouldn’t find stocking these books to their benefit. But people chuck out old books all the time. So everytime you go past a secondhand bookstore, go in. Look around. I’ve found most of my books this way. And yes, many of them will have been written in the 60s or 70s, but there are some excellent tutorials and guides out there. Two tips for hunting in secondhand bookstores: look in the craft section as well as the theatre/performing arts sections; and always ask the seller if they have any puppetry books. Once I asked the seller, and she found me three books when I had found none. So here’s a small list of secondhand bookstores that I frequent; I may not have found puppetry books in some, but they all offer a very good selection of theatre books on a range of topics. Of course, there are hundreds around, so be sure to check any out if you come across them. You never know what you may find!
(I will update this list as I come across new stores, or if I remember any more)
(Melbourne) | Located in Carlton, this is one of my favourite stores for secondhand books. They have a huge *huge* range of theatre and performing arts books, but actually, never any puppetry books. It’s still handy though, as they often have unique texts on lighting, sound, costume, makeup, history, and a wide range of plays. |
Old Books (Melbourne) | Located in Kew on High St (no. 680, near the Harp junction), this store has an eclectic range of performing arts books and ephemera. I have only been there once, and haven’t discovered any puppetry books, but one never knows! |
Chapel St (Melbourne) | There is a great shop on Chapel St, opposite the Windsor train station. I have found three puppetry books there in their craft section. UPDATE: This in now my favourite shop to check for puppetry books. Every time I go in, there are several books - in the craft section up the back at the left - on puppetry. It’s rare to find a second hand bookstore that always seems to have puppetry books in stock, so do check it out if you’re in the area. |
(Melbourne) | Opposite the Flinders St station (just a few stores from the pub on the corner), this shop has a good selection of theatre books. I have yet to find any puppetry books there. |
Federation Square (Melbourne) | Occassionally at Fed Sq. (usually on Saturdays) they have a large book stall. There you will find several sellers, one of whom is Brunsbooks. Brunsbooks has a good range of plays and other theatre books, and I have found an excellent selection of rare or hard-to-come-by theatre books from them. I have not found any puppetry books as of yet. |
Camberwell Op Shop (Melbourne) | Around the corner from the intersection of Riversdale Rd and Canterbury Rd, this op shop always has a stock of interesting and unusual theatre books, as well as theatre programs. I’ve yet to find any puppetry books; but they are the best theatre-book stocked op shop I’ve ever found. |
Online sellers
As with all online sales, you should go with people or dealers that you trust. Here’s some places that I have bought puppetry books from with confidence.
| Mask and Puppet Books | This is a UK-based company, but has the best selection of puppetry books around. They include a wide range of guidebooks, magazines, scripts, and other how-to’s. Their prices are very competitive (what you would pay via Amazon), the dealers are courteous and reply quickly to inquiries. I highly recommend this store! |
| Amazon | When Mask and Puppet Books don’t currently stock what I want to buy, I sometimes buy from Amazon. |
| eBay | Yes, we all know that eBay is a dangerous marketplace - even for those who know what they’re doing. But quite often puppetry books will be sold on eBay that will be quite unique. I’ve found a book on making marionettes that came with a set of scale plans; another that had some excellent photos of bunraku; yet another covered shadow puppetry around the world. There are a great many issues with buying on eBay, and some excellent resources and advice on safe buying can be found at Auctionbytes.com. If you plan on making any bids, you should DEFINITELY do some research on making intelligent and safe purchases on auction sites. If you want more resources on that topic, feel free to leave a comment or send me an email - I have a lot of good links that you can use. |
| Booktopia | Like Amazon, this site has a wider range of books available than in stores. However, I suggest using the first two online stores before going to Booktopia, as they have more puppetry books in stock than this site. The added advantage of Booktopia is that their postage and handling is extremely cheap, especially if you buy more than one book. |
| Stage Plays | This UK/US site has a very wide range of theatre books, including a section for puppetry. I have not purchased anything from this store, but it does come highly recommended from other people. |
| Ray DaSilva | This UK seller is the antique/secondhand counterpart to Mask and Puppet Books. While I haven’t bought from them, they are highly recommended from other people. |
| Puppeteers of America | The American organisation runs a fantastically stocked store, with a wide range of puppetry books. I haven’t bought anything via their online shop, but have bought stuff from them whilst in the US. |
Other places
If you know of the publisher or author of a particular book that you want to get hold of, then you can always try contacting them or their representative to see how you can buy the book. This is particularly handy for niche books or books only published overseas and not sold in Australia. Some books are also out of print, and you may want to try an online search for out-of-print sellers and dealers. You can also try Currency Press, which is the only Australian publisher dedicated to performing arts books. UPDATE: Additionally, puppeteers in Australia may also sell books but not through publishers or normal bookstores. Sue Harris Puppets offers performances and workshops for both adults and children; however, she also offers a range of products aimed at introducing teachers and parents to puppetry, with a range of CDs and books.
Know of a good place to find puppet books? Leave a comment and I’ll add it to the list!