Encyclopaedia of Cryptozoology
Philip Henry Gosse
Philip Henry Gosse
Biographical information
Born 6 April 1810
Worcester, United Kingdom
Died 23 August 1888 (aged 78)
Torquay, United Kingdom
Professional information
Occupation Naturalist, writer, science communicator
Notable works The Romance of Natural History (1860)
Notable investigations Sea serpent
Schelch
African unicorn
Salvaje

Philip Henry Gosse FRS (6 April 1810 – 23 August 1888) was an English naturalist and writer whose interest in romantic zoology, the 19th Century precursor to cryptozoology, has seen him labelled a "grandfather of cryptozoology".[1] His work The Romance of Natural History (1860), considered by Bernard Heuvelmans to be the high point of the "British Period" of sea serpent research, covered a number of cryptids including the sea serpent, African unicorn, salvaje, crowing crested cobra, and schelch. Gosse was a supporter of the then-popular plesiosaur theory of sea serpent classification, though he also suggested a serpentine cetacean identity, apparently unaware of the former existence of zeuglodons.[2]

Notes and references[]

  1. Coleman, Loren & Gosse, Philip Henry (1861) The Romance of Natural History, Cosimo Classics Edition, ISBN 978-1605203348
  2. Heuvelmans, Bernard (1968) In the Wake of the Sea-Serpents, Hart-Davis, ISBN 9780246643124