Non-fiction Books on the Thylacine
Some of these publications are better described as pamphlets or booklets or leaflets. Many are out of print, and some seem almost as rare as the thylacine itself. Adye Jordan's 1987 book is particularly mythical. If it weren't for people telling me that they've seen it, I might not believe that it exists...
Andrews, A. P. (c.1975). Thylacine Thylacinus cynocephalus (Tasmanian tiger, marsupial wolf). Education Leaflet No. 8. Hobart: Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery.
Andrews, A. P. (1985). Thylacine. Thylacinus cynocephalus. Pamphlet produced by the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Macquarie Street, Hobart, Tasmania.
Australian Museum. (1964). The Thylacine or 'Tasmanian Wolf'. Leaflet No. 49. Sydney: V. C. N. Blight.
Australian Museum. (1991). Catalogue of Thylacine Specimens. Mammal Department. Sydney: Australian Museum.
Australian Museum. (2000). The Australian Museum Rheuben Griffiths Trust Thylacine Project. Sydney : The Australian Museum. 14 pp. ill.
Australian National Parks and Wildlife Service. (1978). Thylacine, Thylacinus cynocephalus. Rare and Endangered Species Leaflet. Mammals No. 9. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service.
Anonymous. (1969). The Thylacine or "Tasmanian Wolf". Leaflet (Australian Museum), no. 49. Sydney: Australian Museum.
Bailey, Col. (2001). Tiger Tales: Stories of the Tasmanian Tiger. Sydney: HarperCollins. xii + 164 pp.
Bailey, Col. (2013). Shadow of the Thylacine: One Man's Epic Search for the Tasmanian Tiger. Scoresby: Five Mile Press. 295 pp.
Bailey, Col. (2016). Lure of the Thylacine: True Stories and Legendary Tales of the Tasmanian Tiger. Echo Publishing. 227 pp.
Beresford, Quentin and Bailey, Garry. (1981). Search for the Tasmanian Tiger. Hobart, Tasmania: Blubber Head Press. 54 pp.
Booth, Christine. (2019). One Careless Night. Fitzroy, Victoria: Black Dog Books. 40 pp.
Claude, Cäsar. (1996). Der Beutelwolf. Thylacinus cynocephalus Harris, 1808. Leben und Sterben einer Tierart. Zürich, Switzerland: Zoologisches Museum der Universität Zürich.
Dixon, Joan M. (1991). The Thylacine - Tasmania's Tiger. Melbourne: Museum of Victoria. 9 pp.
Freeman, Carol. (2010). Paper Tiger: A Visual History of the Thylacine. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill Academic Publishers.
Freeman, Carol. (2014). Paper Tiger: How Pictures Shaped the Thylacine (revised edition). Hobart: Forty South Publishing. 224 pp.
Gilroy, Rex and Gilroy, Heather. (2017). The Thylacine - Its History and Sightings. Uru Publications. 216 pp. [Available from Lulu]
Guiler, Eric Rowland. (1985). Thylacine: The Tragedy of the Tasmanian Tiger. Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
Guiler, Eric Rowland. (1991). The Tasmanian Tiger in Pictures. Hobart, Tasmania: St David's Park Publishing.
Guiler, Eric Rowland. (1993). The Tasmanian Tiger in Pictures, second edition. Hobart, Tasmania: St David's Park Publishing. 28 pp.
Guiler, Eric Rowland and Godard, Philippe. (1998). Tasmanian Tiger: A Lesson to be Learnt. Perth, Western Australia: Abrolhos Publishing.
Heath, Alan. (2014). Thylacine: Confirming Tasmanian Tigers Still Exist. Fremantle, WA: Vivid Publishing. 124 pp.
Heath, Alan. (2019). Thylacine: Confirming Tasmanian Tigers Still Exist (Ebook, revised edition). Fremantle, WA: Vivid Publishing.
Holmes, Branden and Linnard, Gareth (eds.). (2023). Thylacine: The History, Ecology and Loss of the Tasmanian Tiger. Clayton South, Melbourne: CSIRO Publishing. [Order from the publisher]
Irby, Kenneth Alan. (1998). Our Tasmanian Tiger: Mystery of the Thylacine. Wynyard, Tasmania: Self published. 26 pp. ill. [pamphlet]
Jordan, Adye M. (1987). The Tiger Man, The Thylacine - Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow; My Study and Findings. Hobart, Tasmania: Wordswork Express. 95 pp.
Lang, Rebecca (ed.). (2014). The Tasmanian Tiger: Extinct or Extant? Strange Nation Publishing. 186 pp. [Available from Amazon]
Lindeen, Carol. (2007). Tasmanian Tiger: Thylacine Cynocephalus. Mankato, Minn.: Capstone Press.
Markovics, Joyce. (2022). Tasmanian Tiger (Endlings: The Last Species series). Ann Arbor, Michigan: Cherry Lake Press. 24 pp.
Maynard, David and Gordon, Tammy. (2014). Tasmanian Tiger: Precious Little Remains. Launceston: Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery. 127 pp.
Mittelbach, Margaret and Crewdson, Michael. (2006). Carnivorous Nights: On the Trail of the Tasmanian Tiger. Random House. 319 pp.
Moeller, Heinz Friedrich. (1997). Der Beutelwolf: Thylacinus Cynocephalus. Magdeburg, Germany: Wesarp Wissenschaften. 195 pp.
Owen, David. (2003). Thylacine: The Tragic Tale of the Tasmanian Tiger. Crows Nest, New South Wales: Allen & Unwin.
Owen, David. (2004). Tasmanian Tiger, the Tragic Tale of How the World Lost Its Most Mysterious Predator. Baltimore, Maryland: The Johns Hopkins University Press. 240 pp.
Owen, David. (2011). Thylacine: The Tragic Tale of the Tasmanian Tiger. Crows Nest, New South Wales: Allen & Unwin.
Owen, David and Pemberton, David. (Due 28 November 2023). Tasmanian Tiger: The tragic story of the thylacine (2nd edition). Crows Nest, New South Wales: Allen & Unwin. 304 pp.
Paddle, Robert N. (2000). The Last Tasmanian Tiger: The History and Extinction of the Thylacine. Oakleigh, Victoria: Cambridge University Press.
Paddle, Robert N. (In Press, 2018). Last Records of a Lost Species: The Tasmanian Tiger in Captivity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Price, Tiana. (2019). Learn About the Tasmanian Tiger. Self published. 37 pp.
Pyers, Greg. (2007). Finding Out About Thylacines. Port Melbourne, Victoria: Echidna Books. 32 pp.
Rolland, Will. (1997). The Tasmanian Tiger: The Elusive Thylacine (Picture Roo Book Series). Kenthurst: Kangaroo Press.
Rolland, Will. (2002). (Rev. ed.). The Tasmanian Tiger: The Elusive Thylacine. Howrah, Tasmania: Book Agencies of Tasmania.
Slee, Sid. (1987). The Haunt of the Marsupial Wolf. Bunbury, WA: South West Printing and Publishing Company. [multiple printings; unknown if any textual revisions]
Smith, Steven J. (1981). The Tasmanian Tiger - 1980: A report on an investigation of the current status of the thylacine Thylacinus cynocephalus, funded by the World Wildlife Fund. Hobart, Australia: National Parks and Wildlife Service. 133 pp.
Strattin, Lisa. (2016). Facts About the Tasmanian Tiger. CreateSpace. 40 pp.
Terry, Edward "Ned" Vincent. (2005). Tasmanian tiger: Thylacinus cynocephalus: alive & well. Dairy Plains, Tasmania: Self published. ix + 142 pp.
Forthcoming and Unfinished Books
Five to seven books are currently each somewhere between "in preparation" and "in press":
1. Peter Chapple et al., subject: "main focus of the book will be the search for the mainland Thylacine" (source)
2. Nic Haygarth, subject: "a book of history on the thylacine" (source: ABC Radio interview)
3. Bernie Mace, subject: "He’s writing a book about his 50 years of thylacine research" (source)
4. Paddle, Robert N. (In Press, 2018). Last Records of a Lost Species: The Tasmanian Tiger in Captivity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
5. From 2015: "Paddle is also currently working on a new book that explores the undocumented history of female trackers" (source; brought to my attention by Gareth Linnard)
6. A seventh book by an anonymous author, subject: post-1936 thylacine reports, folklore and tiger tourism. (source: Anon., pers. comm. 3 April 2020)
7. An eighth book by Grant Robinson may largely concern mainland thylacines around Gippsland, Victoria (p. 161).
Buying Secondhand Copies of Thylacine Books
Most of the published works listed above can be purchased for AU$50 or less. However, some volumes are worth significantly more even without being signed by the author/s. The prices listed below are those that I have seen offered by legitimate booksellers, and hence represent full retail price. Many factors can affect value, such as condition, signed copies and overall demand. The following information is provided primarily to prevent overpricing, and hence people paying too much. Although obviously it extends to those who want to sell their copies and may be undervaluing them. A fair price for both parties is better than a lopsided deal.
Table 1. All prices are for copies in good, clean condition unless stated otherwise.
| Book | Unsigned copy | Signed copy |
| Guiler, 1985 | $2001-2502 | $250+7 |
| Jordan, 1987 | ? | ? |
| Guiler, 1991 | $606 | |
| Guiler & Godard, 1998 | $857 | |
| Paddle, 2000 | $953, $1005 | ? |
| Bailey, 2001 | $150 | ? |
| Terry, 2005 | $1104 | [in the past $150?] |
1 Astrolabe Books, West Hobart, Tasmania, February 2018.
2 Andrew Isles Natural History Books, Prahan, Victoria, first half of 2018.
3 Astrolabe Books, West Hobart, Tasmania, 2018.
4 Astrolabe Books, West Hobart, Tasmania, 2018.
5 Andrew Isles Natural History Books, Prahan, Victoria, early 2019
6 Andrew Isles Natural History Books, Prahan, Victoria, early 2019
7 Astrolabe Books, mid 2020
Reviews of Books
Borrell, Sally. (2011). Still Life/Nature Morte. HUMaNIMALIA 3(1): 130-132.
Freeman, Carol J. (2105). David Maynard and Tammy Gordon eds. Tasmanian Tiger: Precious Little Remains. Historical Records of Australian Science 26: 92-93.
Leidy, Robert A. (2005). Myth Meets Reality in Tasmania: the Fall and Rise of the Pouched Thing with a Dog Head. Conservation Biology 19(4): 1331-1333. [Abstract]
Medlock, Kathryn. (2018). [Review of] Carol Freeman. (2014). Paper tiger: How Pictures Shaped the Thylacine. Forty South Publishing, Hobart. Papers and Proceedings of the Tasmanian Historical Research Association 65(1): 63-66.
Ratkowsky, A. V. and Ratkowsky, D. A. (1985). Book Review: Thylacine: The Tragedy of the Tasmanian Tiger (Guiler, E.R.). The Tasmanian Naturalist 82: 7-8.
Archived Websites