THE SEA FISHES OF SOUTHERN AFRICA (1949)

Solid binding. Contents clean. Book is in fine condition but the jacket is very worn.

xviii + 550pp. Illustrations in profusion.

The first edition of Professor J.L.B. Smith's The Sea Fishes of Southern Africa played an instrumental role in securing the SECOND Coelacanth, which was caught off the Comoros Islands in 1952. After an agonising wait of 14 years Smith finally received a telegram that a second specimen had been caught. He knew he had to get there as soon as possible to secure the specimen before the French authorities got it in their minds to seize the fish. He saw that his only option was to contact Prime Minister D.F. Malan, as he was the only person with the authority in South Africa who could send a military plane on a private mission when all his staff was away for the Christmas holidays. So Smith phoned the Prime Minister at his holiday home, ten o'clock in the evening. The first lady answered and said that she was dreadfully sorry but her husband was already in bed, and that the Professor should try calling around ten o'clock the next morning. Smith was devastated, he knew time was of the essence. When Mrs. Malan entered the bedroom the Prime Minister asked her "who the devil is calling at this time of night?" She answered that it was a Professor Smith who was calling about a prehistoric fish, and she gave him a few more details about the call. Malan said that he knew about this Professor Smith and his prehistoric fish, "He is a serious man and would not call at this time of night if it wasn't important". Malan stood up and went to fetch his copy of Sea Fishes that Mrs. Malan packed in their luggage for their trip to the sea. He found Smith's entry on the Coelacanth on page 79, read it, and meditated for a only a few moments before he said to his wife that Professor Smith will be flying to the Comoros Islands the following morning".