Cryptozoology: First Use?
Posted by: Loren Coleman on February 5th, 2007
Cryptozoology, as you know, means “the study of hidden animals.”
In 1955, Belgian zoologist Bernard Heuvelmans wrote a groundbreaking book in French, a now classic opus entitled (in English) On the Track of Unknown Animals. But in the 1955 French and the 1958 English editions, you will not find the word “cryptozoology,” in any language.
The first (known) published use of the word “cryptozoology” in French, occurred in 1959 in a book by wildlife biologist Lucien Blancou, dedicated to “Bernard Heuvelmans, master of cryptozoology.”
In 1961, Ivan T. Sanderson’s Abominable Snowmen: Legend Come to Life was first published.
Sanderson’s book is where we first see the premiere utilization of the term “cryptozoological,” in English.
In Heuvelmans’ 1968 book In the Wake of the Sea Serpents, it is clear that the word “cryptozoology” had been around for perhaps over twenty years before it came into print in 1959. This is easy to decipher from what Heuvelmans wrote briefly. Speaking of two articles on water monsters written in 1947 and 1948 by Ivan T. Sanderson, Heuvelmans wrote: “When [Sanderson] was still a student he invented the word ‘cryptozoology,’ or the science of hidden animals, which I was to coin later, quite unaware that he had already done so.”
Intriguingly, Heuvelmans left this paragraph giving credit to Sanderson out of all earlier and later French editions of his Sea Serpent book. It is only found in the English edition for 1968, where you can find Heuvelmans saying it was Sanderson who first coined “cryptozoology.”
Cryptozoological research should be actuated by two major forces: patience and passion. – Bernard Heuvelmans, Cryptozoology, Volume 7, 1988.
So here are the research questions of the day:
Are there other early uses of “cryptozoology” in print between 1947 and 1959, undiscovered to date? When? Where? By whom?
Are there other published examples, in English, from Sanderson or anyone else, of the use of “cryptozoology” or “cryptozoological” before 1961, published in any newspaper, journal, magazine or book?
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
Well, at one point I examined Sanderson’s library pretty thoroughly.
I did not see anything like a published use of the term in the 1940’s or anywhere else before the Abominable Snowmen book, but he did use it in private notes (Which were undated as far as I can recall).
I know this does not actually answer the question you asked, sorry.
My favorite was a definition of cryptozoology that Penn and Teller used. I will not repeat it here but it goes something like: The study of animals and **** we make up.
Unfortunately that definition fits many of the hoaxers and other “researchers” who flood the internet with some pretty tall tales.
I am going to be cynical and say Penn and Teller’s definition also goes for regular zoology.