This study owes its inception to the realisation that previous academic consideration of puppet theatre and its history has been deficient in terms of genuine theoretical reflection both on method and subject. On the basis of a rigorous historical examination of existing puppet-theatre historiography, the study proposes relinquishing the purely historical approach in favour of a »Social and Cultural History«. Consideration is given to the historical reasons for the elevation of the puppet theatre to the status of art in the 19th and 20th centuries. Approaching the question from the point of view of the historical development undergone by key concepts connected with 'puppet theatre', the author examines adaptations of various forms of puppet theatre in different historical and aesthetic contexts. This new view of puppet theatre is designed to kindle a discussion of the methodology of puppet-theatre historiography in the context of Theatre Studies.