Our History
Petrarch’s Bookshop has served Launceston as a general bookshop since 1985, providing exceptional customer service across an ever-growing range. Originally owned and operated by Peter and Rhonda Durkin, Marcus and Andy Durkin now continue their literary legacy, proudly following in the footsteps of Peter and Rhonda.
The growth of the business has been based on one major ideal – customer service. Petrarch’s stocks a wide range of book categories, such as Tasmanian nonfiction, gardening, cooking, architecture, health, art, and many more. Our friendly staff are all avid readers and are happy to provide recommendations, whether it be a new release or a classic from yesteryear. Our fiction categories include crime, fantasy, historical, Australian, and bestselling titles.
We are delighted to welcome readers with a variety of titles. We have many titles available, but if you’re looking for something specific that we don’t currently have in stock, we’ll try and source it for you.
Our Name
Petrarch’s Friends
“I have friends, whose society is extremely agreeable to me: they are of all ages, and of every country. They have distinguished themselves both in the cabinet and in the field, and obtained high honors for their knowledge of the sciences. It is easy to gain access to them; for they are always at my service, and I admit them to my company, and dismiss them from it, whenever I please. They are never troublesome, but immediately answer every question I ask them. Some relate to me the events of the past ages, while others reveal to me the secrets of nature. Some, by their vivacity, drive away my cares and exhilarate my spirits, while others give fortitude to my mind, and teach me the important lesson, how to restrain my desires and to depend wholly on myself. They open to me, in short the various avenues of all the arts and sciences, and upon their information I safely rely, in all emergencies. In return for all these services, they only ask me to accommodate them with a convenient chamber in some corner of my humble habitation, where they may repose in peace: for these friends are more delighted by the tranquility of retirement, than with the tumults of society.”