About Unicorn Books

A PROUD 36 YEAR HISTORY

Since 1989 Unicorn Bookshop is a revered name in the book trade.  From humble beginnings it has earned a reputation internationally as a leading purveyor of quality hard to find books and historic newspapers, poster, maps and ephemera.

Unicorn Books are specialists at getting old book collections back into the hands of readers worldwide who will appreciate them as much as the last owner did.

1989 Founded

Unicorn Bookshop was established in a small shop in Alnwick Street in the historic regional town of Warkworth, New Zealand by the late Richard C.F. Wasley (1944 - 2011).  Records confirm that Unicorn Bookshop remained in this store until at least 1993 as the shop featured in Harry Bioletti's popular book on Warkworth history.

1994-2003  Shop relocated 

Sometime between 1994 and 2003 Richard Wasley relocated the shop around the corner to 15 Neville Street where it was a well-known part of the local Warkworth retail community. 

2011 Ownership change

Richard Wasley passed away after an illness May 2011 and the business changed owners soon after. 

2014  Ownership change, shop refurbished, business digitalised.

Whilst located in Neville Street the business changed hands to the current owners in September 2014.  The Neville Street shop was completely refurbished and relaunched in October 2014 as well as being established in digital trading.

2016  Unicorn goes 100% digital

After a 27 year institutional association with the Warkworth retail community, management undertook a bold but necessary recalibration of Unicorn Bookshop.

Firstly, the Neville Street shop was completely relocated to this custom digital technology platform.

Secondly, Unicorn Bookshop commenced specialising only in its range of vintage, rare and antiquarian books that was traditionally only a small part of the business. It ceased to operate in the contemporary market zone of mass market fiction and new releases.

Whilst these changes were met with nostalgic lament from the local community, they were necessary to respond to the commercial pressures of new book trading and traditional retail shop leasing, compounded with an ever increasing market trend towards online shopping.

2018  Newspapers, maps, ephemera added

In mid-2018 Unicorn Bookshop expanded its product range to include paper derivative memorabilia and ephemera.

2019  TradeMe store opened

In November 2019 Unicorn Bookshop established a professional seller storefront on the Trademe digital platform.

2020  Kauri Books acquisition

In August 2020 Unicorn Bookshop purchased the stock/business of Kauri Books, prominent rare book dealers in Auckland and merged this into Unicorn's. This considerably increased the range of Unicorn's stock.

2021 - 2024 Facebook Groups established

Promoting a brand internationally requires thinking outside the box.
Since August 2021 Unicorn has established these popular FB groups;

Old Signs & Advertising - New Zealand
AIR NEW ZEALAND history and nostalgia
QANTAS AIRWAYS history and nostalgia
ANSETT AIRWAYS history and nostalgia
COOK STRAIT SHIPPING history and nostalgia

These groups share the best of our nostalgic images and adverts from the various books and ephemera that we sell.  Interest in these groups has attracted thousands of followers to Unicorn Bookshop worldwide.

2025  Unicorn Bookshop today

Vintage, out of print, rare and antiquarian books, newspapers, maps, posters and ephemera is now all Unicorn does.

The quaint little shop that Richard Wasley started all those years ago is today a leading international purveyor serving customers throughout New Zealand and across 39 countries/territories.

OUR CUSTOMERS

Don't take our word for it, our customers worldwide are our best salespeople and their feedback speaks for itself.  All customer feedback we receive is published via the link on each product listing.

Our customers worldwide include;

• Private collectors and enthusiasts
• History buffs
• Authors and writers
• Researchers and historians
• Libraries
• Universities
• Museums
• National archives
• Schools
• City councils
• Public utilities
• Businesses looking for their old stationery.

WHAT DO WE SELL?

Used and selected new books; 

• Predominantly vintage non-fiction
• Signed by the author
• Out of print
• Limited editions
• Old book sets
• Rare & collectable
• Antiquarian
• Scholarly

Book subjects;

• New Zealand history
• Maori & Te Reo
• Australian history
• Pasifika & Polynesian history
• American, British & European history
• Natural history
• Trees, flora and farming
• Animals, birds and marine life
• Biography
• Royalty
• Sports history
• Business history
• Exploration history
• War and military history
• Poetry
• Art history
• Cars, motocycles and tractors
• Aviation, maritime & rail history
• Gardening & cookbooks
• Hiking, hunting, fishing
• Religion
• Science, medical & engineering
• Technical, reference & text books

We also sell vintage and rare ephemera;

• Newspapers
• Magazines
• Guides, directories, programmes
• Posters
• Photos & drawings
• Maps & charts
• Company stationery
• Banking, insurance, shipping, travel docs
• Legal agreements
• Tickets, receipts, envelopes

POINTS OF DIFFERENCE

Unicorn is purely digital - local service with global reach;

• Browse any book instantly from anywhere in the world.
• Listing quality is as good as picking any item from our shelves.
• New listings and updates are communicated instantly to market.
• Our shop is always open.

High quality products and listings;

• We offer quality products, shipped securely worldwide.
• No matter how a book is described, you can see exactly what you're buying.
• Actual products depicted, no generic stock images.

Prompt, uncomplicated, reliable and frictionless service;

• Click buy now and what you just viewed arrives at your door.
• We accept any card, any currency.
• AfterPay option available via our TradeMe store.
• Our customer feedback published speaks for itself.

No drop shipping;

• Unicorn Bookshop owns all its stock. 
• We do not drop ship books from faraway places that we have never seen.

Our points of difference simply comes down to this;
We are easy to do business with.
Under promise and over deliver - almost all our feedback confirms that the customer got more than they were expecting.

WORLDWIDE SERVICE

We ship to customers throughout New Zealand, as well as to 39 countries / territories;
Chatham Islands - Australia - Norfolk Island - Fiji - Rarotonga - Singapore - Indonesia - Hong Kong - Thailand - China - India - Philippines - Mauritius - Hawaii - mainland United States - Alaska - Canada - South Africa - Botswana - Namibia - England - Wales - Ireland - Scotland - Sweden - Norway - Germany - Italy - Netherlands - France - Belgium - Switzerland - Monaco - Austria - Spain - Portugal - Israel - Ukraine - Czech Republic.

• Worldwide door to door service.
• Full track 'n trace service is standard.
• Shipping to most countries is all-inclusive of destination duties, fees and taxes.
• Our rate of missing items, returns and damages is near nil.

NEW ZEALAND BUSINESS

Unicorn Bookshop is proud to be 100% New Zealand owned and operated.

ENVIRONMENT​ CARE​​​ COMMITMENT

• We purchase and use only eco-friendly, biodegradable / compostable packaging.
• We do not purchase any plastic packaging.
• And we reuse circa 80% of all our inwards goods packaging.

FIND US ONLINE

• This website
• We also host our own professional store on TradeMe: http://www.trademe.co.nz/stores/unicorn-bookshop

Social media

You'll also find Unicorn Bookshop on Facebook and Instagram (links top right)

See the full Unicorn Bookshop story

Click on the Facebook link to take a look back through photos depicting the Unicorn Bookshop story over 30 years. This includes;

• Customer feedback comments.
• Photos of founder Richard Wasley and the original Alnwick Street shop.
• Read more: http://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2011/06/at-sign-of-unicorn.html
• Photos of the Neville Street shop including the refurbishment and relaunch.
• Photos of the Warkworth Christmas parade.
• And of course photos of all the fabulous and famous people that have visited us.

Media

• Warkworth is a small town in the winterless north of New Zealand - but what it is like? click to find out: http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/home-property/10397991/Lets-live-in-Warkworth
• Unicorn Bookshop reopens after major refurbishment - Mahurangi Matters Oct 2014, page 13 https://issuu.com/mahurangimatters/docs/mahurangi_matters_15_october_259

PRICING

All pricing published by Unicorn Books Ltd (UBL) includes Goods and Services Tax (GST) that is payable in New Zealand.

All prices exclude shipping costs and this is quoted separately at the checkout.

UBL retains the right to change any prices published without notice, at any time prior to receiving a customer enquiry.

TRADE DISCOUNT

UBL can in most cases offer a discount off the published retail price to trade based book resellers.

STOCK QUANTITY

For 99% of all our products listed, there is only one held in stock.

The PayPal quantity selection at the checkout is universally generic to PayPal and does not reflect Unicorn stock levels. Regretfully we have no control over this function within PayPal.

If you require more than one item, please ask and we will attempt to source another for you.

If you order more than one item and we are unable to source another for you, we will refund the difference back via PayPal.

ORDER CONFIRMATION

Email from PayPal

The PayPal receipt emailed to the customer should be treated as confirmation that your order has been received by UBL.

Correct address

It is the responsibility of the customer to ensure that both their shipping address and best contact number supplied are correct.

Incorrect address supplied

Where the shipping has already been booked, but not yet dispatched;
A second round of shipping charges will be payable, plus a service charge to cover UBL time and effort of locating and retrieving a single package from our dispatch.  We will not attempt to re-direct the original shipping booking made as this is highly unreliable and in our experience causes more issues than it solves once the item is in the courier system.

Where the item has already been dispatched;
It is up to the customer to contact the courier provider and attempt a change of address required.  UBL will not get involved as in our experience this process is at best very time consuming and the results highly unreliable.

Best contact number

Whilst the requirement to provide a phone number is optional under financial services law;
1. We strongly recommend that New Zealand customers provide their best contact number to ensure easy contact for the courier delivery if necessary.
2. For all international shipments, it is now a requirement of most customs services worldwide that a best local contact number is provided.

ONLINE PAYMENTS

All customer payments via either this website or manually over the telephone are transacted via worldwide payment facilitator PayPal. 

Purchase notifications by email will include:

1. Receipt from PayPal confirming your purchase and bank card payment.
2. Despatch confirmation, including shipping tracking information.

Website Order Payment Security

UBL cannot see any customer bank card details entered into PayPal via its website, nor are these retained by either UBL or PayPal once a transaction is completed.

Telephone Order Payment Security

Where a customer provides UBL staff their bank card details over the telephone to manually process a purchase on their behalf, all card details that have been written down are immediately shredded once the transaction is completed.

Online Connection Security

This UBL website is secured with a SHA-2 256bit SSL encrypted connection meaning that any information you share or view through the website is completely secure.

When viewing https://www.unicornbooks.co.nz/ you should see a padlock symbol in the top left of your browser address bar. This confirms our UBL independent certification for website security and compliance with international online protocols.

In Unicorn Books entire history, we have never had any occurrence of compromised security with a customer's bank card details or information provided.

DROP SHIPPING

We do not drop ship any products.  Unicorn Books owns all its stock and we dispatch all shipments from New Zealand.

COMBINED SHIPPING

For New Zealand sales the combined shipping option is available at the checkout.

For international sales any combined shipping needs to be quoted prior.  However any savings normally only occur for very light shipments (ephemera, small books and magazines) because all international rates are calculated primarily by weight.

NEW ZEALAND SHIPPING

All shipments are couriered within New Zealand via either NZ Post or Aramex.

• Which option we use is determined largely by the customers delivery address.
• All shipments within New Zealand include tracking.
• Additional signature required is available on request and at extra cost.

INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING

All international shipping is couriered via Aramex Logistics.

• This is a fully tracked service.
• Rates quoted are normally all inclusive of destination handling charges.

Whilst all our international shipment charges are intended to be all inclusive and in most cases they are, there may still be a destination handling agent involved and a small charge payable prior to collection. These occurrences are very few and at our discretion we will compensate the customer for these additional charges required.

CORRECT ADDRESS AND CONTACT

It is the responsibility of the customer to ensure that;

• The appropriate shipping option is chosen for their delivery address.
• The delivery address and contact details are correct and complete.
• The delivery address is secure from theft or damage.
• A best contact local phone number is included. (a requirement for all customs internationally).

It is customs requirement that any international shipment can only be delivered to a street address, they cannot be any of the following;

• PO Box
• C/- Post Office
• Private Bag
• Parcel Locker
• Mail drop depot

RISK OF LOSS OR THEFT

The risk of theft or damage passes to the customer at the point the courier confirms that delivery is completed.

DELIVERY FOLLOW UP

Any follow up required with the courier remains the responsibility of the customer where;

• The item has already been confirmed as delivered to the address provided.
• An international shipment requires collection from a destination handling agent.
• The desintation address includes those listed that we cannot deliver to above, and an alternative was never provided. 

UNDELIVERABLE SHIPMENTS

Where any shipment is deemed undeliverable to the address provided, or the address provided causes the item to be returned to sender, it is the customers responsibility to either;

• Contact the courier to provide further delivery instructions or an alternative delivery address.
• Pay any additional shipping charges to redirect or have the item resent.

DELIVERY ETA

All orders are normally loaded for dispatch the following day that they are received.

Whilst we require that all shipping companies that we use expedites all customer deliveries without undue delay and with proper care, they are all independent providers to us and their service is ultimately beyond our control.

So whilst we can provide a likely delivery lead time based on prior experience, the precise delivery date and time cannot be guaranteed.

LOST SHIPMENTS

Please refer to our Returns and Refunds page for this information.

DESCRIPTION TERMINOLOGY USED

This guide explains the various descriptions used within each product listing;

NEW: A book that we sourced new from a publisher or their distributor.

AS NEW:  A new book, but as we did not source it from a publisher - technically it is not brand new.

NEAR NEW:  As new with only one blemish/defect as stated. 

IMMACULATE:  As new with only a couple of minor blemishes/defects as stated.

EXCELLENT:  Permits multiple blemishes/defects as stated, but remains clean, complete and intact.

TIDY:  Includes damage such as tears, semi-detached covers/pages or water damage/other significant marks/staining.  

READING COPY:  A book that is very worn, soiled, damaged or partially mutilated, including the covers/pages detached or missing - but it is still complete enough to be at least readable.

BOOK CONDITION & DESCRIPTIONS

We sell old books and ephemera, but we don't sell rubbish;

Whilst the descriptions of tidy and reading copy are how the varying condition is technically categorised, an item would have to be very scarce or unusual for us to actually sell an item in this condition.

Item condition depicted within images;

Notwithstanding our thorough descriptions, we still go to considerable effort to ensure that all need to know detail concerning a listing's imperfections or defects is made clearly obvious within the listing images.

Musty smelling books;

Please remember that even an old book that is still in near brand new condition, is still an old book, and can sometimes smell a little musty.  This is simply the nature of old books but in extreme cases we will include this within the description.

Product quality;

Unicorn Books goes to considerable effort to ensure that all product listing descriptions, especially on second hand items, are factual, accurate and complete.

All items go through two quality checks - the first when the item is listed - the second at sale/pre-shipping.

BOOK VALUATION SERVICE

Unicorn Books Ltd provides a leading valuation service for books and ephemera.

Our team have years of experience in trading rare books and ephemera worldwide, and one of our directors has practiced as a valuer since 2004.  This includes an affiliation to Valuers Institute of New Zealand.

Valuations can be provided for either books that we have sold, or collections that we are not selling and the value can be for either the current market value, the retail value, or the insurance / replacement value.

To complete a valuation all we require are some high-quality images via email as well as any relevant history.  For larger collections we normally require to travel to sight the items.

Call us for a no obligation fee estimate.

SINGLE BOOK APPRAISALS

Unless a single book is likely to be of very high value, it is not normally worth completing an appraisal. However we are always happy to quickly determine if this is worthwhile.

Please note that Unicorn Books does not provide informal gratis valuation commentary for single books or collections to assist with private sales.

CUSTOMER PROTECTION

Unicorn Books Ltd (UBL) will meet all its obligations required under Consumer Law.

All UBL customers, products and purchases are protected by;
> New Zealand Consumers Guarantees Act
> Australian Fair Trading Act

UBL is not a second hand book exchange.

PRODUCT QUALITY

UBL goes to considerable effort to ensure that all product listing descriptions, especially on second hand items, are factual, accurate and complete.

All purchases also go through two quality checks - the first when an item is listed - then a second pre-shipping check.

REFUNDS FOR MIS-REPRESENTED or DAMAGED ITEMS

In the unlikely event that our product representation is clearly inaccurate or misleading, UBL will accept the item for return and provide a full refund including paying the return freight.

This includes where a shipment becomes damaged during transit.

All claims must be communicated to UBL within 24 hours from the time that the item is confirmed as delivered.  No claims will be accepted beyond this time.

It is the customers responsibility to return ship the item to us prior to the refund being issued.

REFUNDS FOR NON-DAMAGED ITEMS

Any claim for a refund made via either a bank or PayPal chargeback that is lodged once an order has been confirmed shipped or delivered, must be accompanied by full and separate explanation communicated to UBL as to why the claim has been made.

This includes where a gift voucher has been redeemed.

It is not enough to just tick the bank or PayPal box 'unauthorised / unknown transaction' or 'buyer did not make this purchase'.

UBL reserves the right to take action where clearly an attempt has been made to defraud by lodging a baseless/fictitious refund claim via a chargeback on either a sale already confirmed as shipped/delivered - or a gift voucher already redeemed.

This can include;

• Re-directing back UBL store any shipment not yet delivered.
• Cancelling the sale
• Revoking any gift voucher that the sale relates.
• Forfeiting any gift voucher unspent balance remaining.
• Requiring that the customer pay any additional costs incurred including; original sale fees, shipping charges, package redirection charges and UBL administration costs.
• Blacklisting the customer from making further purchases.

LOST SHIPMENTS

Lost shipments are extremely rare for our business. Globally they number in single digits in UBL entire 39+ year history.

There is nearly always a reason why a package is delayed and appears to be lost.  This is normally to do with the adequacy and/or accuracy of the customer address and best contact details originally provided.

We will not accept any refund claim for a delayed shipment until all reasonable enquiry with the courier has been exhausted, or they confirm that the package is in fact lost.

Any bank chargeback lodged with a refund claim made prior to resolving the delivery status with the courier, will only result in UBL lodging a return to sender instruction with the courier. This will then require additional charges to be paid by the cutomer prior to having the returned item re-dispatched.

IF YOU CHANGE YOUR MIND

We are happy to accommodate changes to orders prior to dispatch, including an incorrect quantity selected and combined shipping required.

We do not provide refunds where the customer has simply changed their mind, however we can provide store credit to the value of the original purchase price.

There can be exceptions where refunds are issued, however this is entirley at UBL discretion.

Any refunds issued will have deducted all non-refundable transaction fees that UBL incurs on the original purchase.

Any credit due on shipped items first requires that the item has been return shipped to us with tracking confirmed prior to the credit being issued.

TERMS & CONDITIONS

1. General
The Terms & Conditions herein relate to the business of;
Unicorn Books Ltd, NZCo. 5462341 ("UBL")

UBL operates as an online retailer of books and other related paper derivative memorabilia.
UBL is not a second hand book exchange.
UBL will uphold its responsibilities as required by New Zealand and Australian Consumer Law.

If you have any queries regarding these Terms & Conditions, please contact us:
Unicorn Books Ltd
PO Box 503
Warkworth 0941
New Zealand
books@unicornbooks.co.nz

2. Governing Jurisdiction
These terms are governed in accordance with the laws of Auckland, New Zealand. All parties relying on these Terms and Conditions agree to submit to the laws of this jurisdiction.

3. Severance 
Where any provision of these terms is deemed either void, unlawful or unenforceable, that provision may be severed from these provisions without effecting the standing of the remaining provisions.

4. Accuracy of information
All product information on this website is current at the time of publication, but remains subject to change without notice prior to sale. UBL makes every effort to ensure that all information published is accurate, factual, correct and complete. All visitors to this site must assume that any reliance of this information is at their own risk.

Please also refer to our book descriptions information within the Pricing nav link.

5. Stock availability 
Items appearing for sale are available ex-stock and are shipped from New Zealand.
UBL does not drop-ship any product.
UBL retains the right to either add, change or discontinue any stock item on this website, at any time, without notice.

6. Pricing
Please refer to the terms and conditions outlined separately via the Pricing nav link.

7. Payment via PayPal and credit card security
Please refer to the terms and conditions outlined separately via the Orders nav link.

8. Returns
Please refer to the terms and conditions outlined separately via the Returns nav link.

9. Shipping
Please refer to the terms and conditions outlined separately via the Shipping nav link.

10. Proprietary rights & Intellectual property
UBL operates internationally as a reseller of books and book related material. UBL does not purport to hold any proprietary rights to any publications or content that it sells.

This website technology platform is proprietary to UBL.

11. Limitation of Liability 
This website may contain links to other websites. Any link is only for the purpose of supplementary product information on the basis of best endeavours to help the customer. UBL gives no warranty as to the accuracy or currency of such information provided by any third party.

Unless required by New Zealand law, UBL will not be held liable to the website viewer or any third party for any damage caused directly or indirectly as a result of the use of this website.

WEBSITE SECURITY

12. This UBL website is secured with a SHA-2 256bit SSL encrypted connection meaning that any information you share or view through the website is completely secure.  When viewing this website you should see either a padlock or circular double key symbol in the far left of your browser address bar. This confirms UBL independent website security certification and compliance with international online protocols.

13. UBL cannot see any customer credit card details entered into PayPal, nor are these retained by either UBL or PayPal once a transaction is completed.

14. In Unicorn Books entire history, we have never had a single occurrence of compromised security with a customer's credit card details provided.

PRIVACY POLICY

15. UBL remains committed to the privacy of everyone who does business with us. Any information collected from customers will be treated by UBL as private and confidential. All information will be managed with the at least the same degree of security and care that UBL manages its own commercial information and would expect anyone else to manage our own information.

16. This information is collected in both hard and electronic format via the normal course of our business, including: general correspondence and requests for information, trading and transaction records, delivery/freight forwarding records and website analytics.

17. Whilst UBL retains information in the interests of sound record keeping (excludes credit card details), unless required by law or as requested by the person or entity that the information directly relates to, UBL will never otherwise disclose, share or sell any information, personal or otherwise.

18. Whilst UBL may add its customer details to a direct mail database, the customer will always be given a simple ‘opt out’ or 'unsubscribe' option to enable them to be quickly removed from such a list.