Title: The Annotated Old Fourlegs
Subtitle: The updated story of the coelacanth
Author: Mike Bruton
Publisher: Penguin Random House South Africa
Imprint: Struik Nature
Cape Town, South Africa 2017
ISBN 9781775844990 / ISBN 978-1-77-584499-0
Softcover, 22 x 22 cm, 336 pages, throughout color and b/w photography and images
When the famous South African fish scientist Professor JLB Smith published Old Fourlegs: The Story of the Coelacanth in 1956 he created an international sensation. After all, this 400-million-year-old group of fishes, known only from fossil remains, was thought to have become extinct around 66 million years ago! JLB Smith's dramatic account of the discovery of the first and second coelacanths in 1938 and 1952 turned him into a cult figure and put South African science on the world map. His book was eventually published in six English editions and translated into nine foreign languages. Mike Bruton's The Annotated Old Fourlegs includes a facsimile reprint of the original book, with notes and images in the margins that provide an interesting and revealing commentary on Smith's text. An introductory chapter sets the scene for the drama about to unfold; and concluding chapters discuss further discoveries of coelacanths and the cast of characters involved, as well as the significance of the coelacanth, its anomalous characteristics and the extraordinary impact it has had internationally in the fields of both natural and cultural history. With a Foreword by the Smith's son William, himself a well-known educational TV personality in South Africa, this book brings the coelacanth story right up to date. In particular, Bruton stresses the significance of the coelacanth as a symbol for marine conservation.
Acknowledgements
Preface
Foreword
Introduction to the story of the coelacanth
The annotated Old Fourlegs
Coelacanth discoveries
The significance of the coelacanth
Postscript
Glossary of terms
Acronyms used in the text
References and Further reading
