Preparing the Ghost: An Essay Concerning the Giant Squid and Its First Photographer

A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice Selection

Named one of the Best Books of the Year by Shelf Awareness

Memory, mythology, and obsession collide in this “slyly charming” (New York Times Book Review) account of the giant squid.

In 1874, Moses Harvey—eccentric Newfoundland reverend and amateur naturalist—was the first person to photograph the near-mythic giant squid, draping it over his shower curtain rod to display its magnitude. In Preparing the Ghost, what begins as Harvey’s story b...