The Lungfish, the Dodo, and the Unicorn: An Excursion into Romantic Zoology

Willy Ley says that the lungfish goes into "estivation", a summer sleep as opposed to hibernation. He-or she-merely wraps up in river-mud, then waits until the water dissolves the mud cake, and emerges no whit emaciated. Such is the history of the original edition of this book, The Lungfish and the Unicorn, first published in 1941. A war casualty when the firm which published it was drafted out of existence, it was taken over by The Viking Press. The bound stock was quickly exhausted, and the sheets for a new binding, as well as the plates, were found to have disappeared, no doubt victims of a conservation drive. But interest in the book refused to die, and now it comes out of estivation not only unemaciated but much plumper than it was before. Half of the chapters are new or completely rewritten, nearly all the others are partially rewritten, and there are many delightful new illustrations. Here is a remarkable zoo of strange beasts from the far corners of the world, creatures zoological or mythical, and speculation as to "...what else might there be hiding in the Rainy Forest...." Willy Ley brings unique gifts to the writing of this intriguing volume. Trained with German thoroughness in zoology and paleontology and science in general, he also possesses an unorthodox inquisitiveness into the dark unknowns. We heartily greet his "de-estivated" book.