So I am browsing through the shelves at
Argosy Books, which has become my favorite Ottawa Area bookstore, and the owner is showing me some old, hard-bound reports from various archaeological societies, and I see a copy of an early translation (1904, I think) of
The Great Sea Serpent by
Anthonie Cornelis Oudemans . This was the first attempt to systematize all previous reports of anomalous sea-creature sightings from all over the planet. A beautiful volume--there's a little drawing of the Daedalous monster (left) on the cover. I looked at the price...$1,250...thought a moment of selling one of my kidneys, and then said no thank you.
