Vintage Dinosaur Art: In the Days of the Dinosaurs - Part 2

Have you thought much about Corythosaurus recently? No? Well, no one seems to care so much about Corythosaurus these days, do they? It's all, "Shantungosaurus this" and "Olorotitan that". Back in the 1950s, though, Corythosaurus was the talk of the town, and so it's only natural that Jean Zallinger illustrated it for the remarkably good In the Days of the Dinosaurs (do read Part 1 if you haven't already). Of course, it's messing about on the river.

Again, this illustration shows that Zallinger was paying a greater-than-usual amount of attention to the animal's anatomy; note the quite precise way the skull is drawn, and the particular curve of the spine over the shoulders. I wouldn't mind betting that it's largely based on the famous specimen on display in the AMNH (AMNH 5240).

Andrews devotes a chapter of the book to  "Dinosaurs with Armor [sic]", although rather than being a section dedicated to thyreophorans, it instead concerns various distantly related animals that evolved pointy bits with which to defend themselves from predators. As Andrews puts it:

"For thousands of years the smaller dinosaurs were eaten by the bigger ones. They were eaten for breakfast, lunch, or dinner - whenever they were caught."

This raises the (no doubt intentionally) amusing image of dinosaurs with set mealtimes, although lacking convenient supermarkets to visit. In any case, the first of these great armoured brutes to appear in the book is Stegosaurus (above), in an illustration that is as beautifully shaded as any of the others, but very of its time. I do like the rows of small scutes along the animal's flanks, much as the static, hump-backed appearance of the animal is all too predictable.

Ankylosaurus appears too, of course, in classic super-squat, rather short-tailed guise. It's very adorable. I can't help but be drawn to the silhouetted pterosaur in the top left - it seems altogether sleeker and pointier looking than your typical background pteranodont.

Triceratops is up next, looking...rather interesting. The peculiar, semicircular, fanned-out appearance of the frill is shared with Rudolph Zallinger's The Age of Reptiles depiction. Somehow, though, Jean Zallinger's illustration manages to make the animal look even more corpulent - it's probably that vein-like skin fold on the belly, and the especially fat tail. (As an aside, the contrasting skin texture of the tail does make it almost look like a monstrous parasitic worm has inserted itself up where the sun don't shine.) I do think the shading on this one is especially lovely, serving to highlight the very many interesting contours of the face, where the skin appears to adhere to the underlying bone very closely. This approach (along with the resulting lizardy lips) was very popular back in the day, fell out of favour somewhat, but is now being given a second look. In some areas, 'shrink wrapping' of the face might be justified if the bone texture suggests it. Why yes, I have been following what Mark Witton's been up to recently.

Naturally, it's Monoclonius that shores up the ceratopsian team in the Armoured Dinosaurs category. It's another one of those slightly dubious genera that's fallen by the wayside, although I'll forever remember it as being the cute blue fellow with the glassy yellow eyes. In any case, this illustration looks awfully familiar to me, but I just can't quite put my finger on it. The tail seems to be emerging in a bit of an odd place on this one, although that might just be an issue of perspective. It's also interesting to note that the toes are more 'separated' here, as opposed to the more elephantine feet on Triceratops - they're actually a much better match for how ceratopsian feet really look. It may be some combination of lack of information on Triceratops at the time with the expectation of how such a huge animal 'should' look. Certainly, I think it's the latter that's resulted in the trope persisting until very recently.

This being a book written by Roy Chapman Andrews Himself, Protoceratops does of course appear, although outside the "Dinosaurs with Armor" chapter. It's a very typical portrayal of a beast squatting over a tightly-packed nest. Now here's an idea for a throwaway gag in Jurassic World 2: It Could Have Been Worse, John: a shot featuring dozens of caged Protoceratops, crammed together like battery hens, laying endless eggs onto a conveyor belt. You can have that one on me, Universal. But I digress. This illustration notably includes the wee teeth in the front of the mouth, so often missing from contemporary (and even more modern) depictions of this animal. And the tree in the background is well done. Love a good tree, me.

Naturally, Protoceratops is featured in a chapter that details Andrews' exploits in Mongolia. Not only is Andrews' story a ripping yarn in whichever book it appears, it also gives Zallinger the chance to illustrate some properly stunning landscapes. Based on the above image, I can only wish that she had included a backdrop like this in some of her dinosaur illustrations - they would have been properly stunning. Stick a tiny dinosaur somewhere at the foot of this rocky outcrop, and you'd have people like me stroking their chins thoughtfully and complimenting the beautiful composition. But alas, it wasn't to be.

Andrews set out on his Mongolia expedition in 1922, apparently with a convoy of eight old-time motor cars. I'm grateful to Zallinger for illustrating this, as to modern eyes it looks absolutely crazy; like a parade of veteran charabancs, overloaded with kit, attempting to traverse terrain more suited to a well-beaten 4x4, or indeed a camel train. What a wonderful image.

And finally...the book's endpapers feature a very familiar-looking Bronto, apparently modelled on The Age of Reptiles mural, disdainful look and all. Still, the vegetation (what little there is) is again very well drawn, and I continue to be impressed by the very subtle scaly skin texture, where so many others apparently gave up and just made their sauropods look like completely smooth-skinned blimps. Having (I must confess) not been aware of Jean Zallinger's work before I wrote this post, I now want to seek out more of it. Lovely job (and thanks again to Charles Leon for sending me the scans).

Coming up next: TetZooCon! Again!

Vintage Dinosaur Art: In the Days of the Dinosaurs - Part 1

Now here's a curious one - a book from 1959, written by the great Roy Chapman Andrews and illustrated by Jean Zallinger. Wait, you mean Rudolph, surely? Well, no; Rudolph Zallinger may be the man behind The Age of Reptiles mural in the Peabody museum, but his wife Jean Day Zallinger is a prolific illustrator, and it shouldn't really be too surprising that she should lend her hand to a book such as this. It's strange not seeing Rudolph's name in this saurian context, but Jean is more than capable of holding her own...even if The Age of Reptiles does heavily influence some of the art here, as we shall see.

This is another one sent to me by Charles Leon - thanks again Charles!

Charles sent me two different covers for this one; one featuring just a Stegosaurus, with rather demonic red eyes, and the other with a Stego accompanied by some sauropods. They're serviceable, and provide an attractive splash of colour, but a little dull. I suppose it doesn't help that stegosaurs of this area inevitably end up looking very depressed, like they've just heard a Boris Johnson speech. Happily, there are much more interesting illustrations to be found within.

In fact, the above illustration of a gathering of hadrosaurs ("Trachodon", of course) is so good, it's used twice. The dinosaurs may be of their time, but are well observed and proportioned with it. The foliage, meanwhile, is just gorgeous - lush, varied, and detailed. Rarely is so much attention paid to mere foliage in palaeoart of this vintage, and it really helps create an engaging, naturalistic scene. It's telling how much carefully illustrated foliage can enhance the sense of realism in a piece, even when the art style isn't strictly 'realistic' or hyper-detailed; of course, all the best palaeoartists today are well aware of this.

When compared with the glorious flora in the hadrosaur scene, the chunky palm stuck behind Iguanodon here looks a little perfunctory. The animal itself, while obviously very typical of the time, at least has decently bulky, muscular arms, and a head that's the right sort of shape. Zallinger seems to have an affinity for warty, knobbly bits - as evidenced nowhere else better than in her illustration of...

...Brontosaurus, the Thunder Lizard! There's a lot more interesting detailing going on here than is typical for contemporary depictions of sauropods, and certainly more than initially meets the eye. The scaly skin effect is quite masterful, with the animal's textured hide being expertly shaded; a wonderful contrast to the often pachyderm-like skin seen on historic reconstructions. The peculiarly gnarled and knobbly head is an intriguing touch. It shows that Zallinger was viewing these beasts as real animals, inventing quirky display structures and anatomy the likes of which might not be construed from fossils. Obviously, the reconstruction as a whole simply wouldn't pass muster today (and it follows the trends of the age in seriously downplaying that fat neck), but for 1959, it's quite lovely.

Not so lovely are these "strange sea creatures of long ago". I dunno - is a big turtle that strange? And why were these animals always depicted as if they were trying to escape the sea, rather than just inhabiting it? Maybe palaeoartists of old felt that these creatures were utterly alien to their conceptions of marine life, and so they felt the need to depict them as something less than fully aquatic. Or maybe it's due to being biased towards human viewpoints. Or maybe crashing waves look really cool. It's probably a pretentious essay for another time.

Never mind all that, then - here's a hadrosaur! "The fingers of his small hands were joined by skin. Each hand was like a duck's foot...This dinosaur loved the water," Andrews explains. Thankfully, Zallinger ignores all this, instead depicting "Trachodon" standing alone on land, nervously glancing over its shoulder lest one of those hideous crocomurderbirds sneak up on it. Again, the skin texture is marvellous (very probably inspired by hadrosaur mummies), and the rows of larger, raised scales on the tail are a nice touch.

Where Trachedmontosaurotitan goes, of course, Rexy will surely follow. This illustration is very obviously based on the Age of Reptiles version by that other Zallinger, but there are a few notable differences. The black lumps down the animal's back have been exaggerated, and the skin textures are more varied - with tougher-looking upper parts giving way to a smoother, but still wrinkled, underbelly. The arms, meanwhile, are just plain creepy. I think a lot of it has to do with the extra digits; they're also disconcertingly humanoid.

Alas, poor "Trachodon" inevitably ends up as Rexy's lunch, in this very Knight-inspired illustration. This is a strikingly different depiction of Rexy - almost every small detail, from the shape of the head down to the number of fingers, is different. Even the black back lumps are gone. Meanwhile, the "Trachodon" now sports those aforementioned webbed fingers.

And finally...the King of Tyrants sleeping. This Rexy more closely resembles the Knightian version, appearing relatively svelte, with chunkier arms and two fingers, as opposed to the more rotund, Godzilla-like (Rudolph) Zallinger-influenced version. Rexy might be "the most terrible animal that ever walked the Earth" according to Andrews, but he doesn't half look adorable when having a kip. "For several days he sleeps soundly. No other dinosaur dares bother him," Andrews writes. Plenty of time for John Conway to sneak up and make a few sketches.

Next time: there's a whole lot more where this came from...

Vintage Dinosaur Art: How Tough was a Tyrannosaurus?

The Q&A format is a very popular one for children's dinosaur books, and indeed I've covered a few during my invaluably spent time writing for LITC. However, this one's a little special, and that's because it was sent to me by long-time reader Herman Diaz via airmail, all the way from the US. Cheers, Herman! Dating from 1989, it's very typical of the era, and features quite a number of entertaining tropes...not least a probably-quite-explicable fixation on the titular Tyrant Reptile.

How Tough was a Tyrannosaurus? was illustrated by Richard Courtney, a prolific author and illustrator of children's books, whose work has featured here before. The illustrations, while stylised and ever-so-slightly cartoonish, are nevertheless par for the course for the late '80s, throwing in a few anatomical anomalies (what is going on inside Rexy's mouth?) and often clearly inspired by other artists, especially Sibbick. The bright colours are quite wonderful and still look great - far superior to the dull green-and-brown murkosaurs that would have featured in books 10 years prior - and no doubt added significantly to the book's kiddie appeal. As for the text? Well, it's by Paul Sereno. He knows what he's talking about.

Happily, the book features a notable number of full colour, double-page spreads of animals in their environment, although they are often highly anachronistic for no very good reason. It'd be understandable if animals were being grouped in clades, or compared across time, and indeed such illustrations do appear; however, much of the time the scenes just seem to be anachronistic for the sake of it, as above. So, Protoceratops (clearly quite Sibbick-inspired) and Warioviraptor share space with the later Corythosaurus, the even later Tyrannosaurus and Ankylosaurus, and the much earlier ASS-tro-don (tee hee hee). Of particular interest here is the none-more-'80s Oviraptor, which apart from being not especially birdlike (which had been done at the time), also features a conspicuous nose horn. This was the result of a quite understandable misinterpretation of a broken crest, and the popularity of Sibbick's very reptilian restoration in the Normanpedia. Rexy, meanwhile, appears to be having a polite discussion with the corythosaurs, although I hear that Rexy tends to be rather blunt in conversation, like a Rotterdammer.

So, we know that Protoceratops, Tyrannosaurus and Astrodon all lived alongside one another, maybe. But - did other animals live alongside the dinosaurs? They sure did! Althoughs Pteraspis certainly bloody didn't, as it was around in the Devonian period. Although chopped off by my scanner in the above image, the two Pteraspis are being chased by an Ichthyosaurus, which is every bit as absurd as depicting non-avian theropods fighting sexy sexy caveladies in fur bikinis. Neobatrachus, meanwhile, is a genus that I must confess I hadn't heard of before now, but is apparently a genus of frogs native to Australia. As in, extant frogs. I'm sure there's a good reason that I'm ignorant of for it to appear here, in which case please let me know in the comments. The skin textures on the edmontosaurs appear to owe something to the Sibbick's Normanpedia version, although they aren't anywhere near as wrinkled and pachyderm-like.

I know Protoceratops is everyone's favourite dinosaur, so here's another illustration of the perpetually breeding, pointy-faced, squat little fellow. I always enjoy how the adult Protoceratops always looks quite outraged in illustrations like this - maybe it's shocked at how suspiciously clean those hatchlings are.

Before Baron et al. had to come along and throw a spanner in the works, we neatly divided dinosaurs into two camps - the red team (Saurischia) and the blue team (Ornithischia). Eggs were eggs, a spade was a spade, we doffed our caps to our social betters, and everyone knew their place. The Edmontosaurus here, posed as it is, is definitely reminiscent of the Normanpedia version; the others (including an unremarkable Rexy, excised by my scanner) aren't so much, although the strangely round frill of the Triceratops is notable.

Given the anachronistic nature of the animal gatherings in this book, it's clear that no one can be considered safe from Rexy's clutches. Here, he bursts from the trees towards Parasaurolophus, which at least lived in the Late Cretaceous. Again, I love the vibrant colours here, perfect for a children's book without being over-the-top, and greatly increasing the liveliness of a scene that's already filled with movement. Also, Rexy's colours remind me of the original Jurassic Park toy T. rex. I love Rexy's active pose, right foot swinging into action, the arms ready to clutch the prey. The squared-off jaw is a bit weird, though; it reminds me of a novelty Easter egg box (specifically, the Lion bar one).

Given Rexy's time-travelling carnivorous rampages, it's important for the discerning dinosaur to carry suitable protection. Here we see a remarkably late instance of the 'angry pineapple' Ankylosaurus, with a uniform covering of armour plates and a coffee bean tail club (albeit with longer legs than earlier versions). By this time, depictions based on Euoplocephalus/Scolosaurus were becoming more commonplace, and I remember them being prevalent in the 1990s. Courtney also provides yet another illustration of Triceratops where its horns are erupting from directly behind its eyes, for some reason.

Of course, it wasn't just Rexy that threatened the Peaceful Plant-Eaters (TM) of 1980s and '90s dinosaur books; one also had to beware roving gangs of dromaeosaur land-piranhas. The Saurolophus, being depicted at a larger size than most animals in this book, gains a pleasing level of fleshy detail - careful shading and detailing gives it a real sense of muscular bulk. Which isn't helping one bit in the face of an onslaught from a mob of reptilian Deinonychus (which lived millions of years earlier on a different continent - oh well, ho hum). [EDIT: D'oh - of course the type species S. osborni was from Canada, but still lived many millions of years later than Deinonychus. Thanks to James Appleby in the comments.] I do like the foamy spittle emerging from the herbivore's mouth, suggesting that this may be a sick individual, although it does draw attention to some teeth that probably shouldn't be there.

All this drama, and we still haven't answered the most important question of all - just how tough was a Tyrannosaurus, anyway? Well, here's your answer:

"Many flesh-eating dinosaurs were fast and agile, bringing down prey several times their own weight. However, the huge, powerful jaws, the strong hind limbs, and - most important - the great size of Tyrannosaurus made the "tyrant" dinosaur the most terrifying flesh-eater that ever lived."

Too right - Rexy was one terrifying murderous crocobird. Fittingly, in a book filled with strange anachronisms, this proclamation of Rexy's awesomeness is accompanied by an illustration of Our Hero preparing to sink his teeth into...Oviraptor. Better than a Devonian fish, I suppose.

And finally...David Norman, is that you?

Vintage Dinosaur Art: Paper Dinosaurs

Hello faithful LITC readers! I'm back from 5 weeks in the wilderness and SVP, and have a pretty cute piece of vintage dinosaur art to share with you. Today we're looking at Paper Dinosaurs: 20 Model Monsters to Cut and Fold, by David Hawcock and published in 1988 by Marshall Cavendish Books.

I picked this up a few months ago when I was visiting family in Halifax, and to be honest I'm shocked that this wasn't on my bookshelf when I was a kid - it hits exactly the sweet spot of dinosaurs and crafts that would have kept me occupied for weeks. The cover features a paper model that looks like current reconstructions of quadrupedal Spinosaurus but in the book is called Dimetrodon - that skull is definitely not Dimetrodon's, and I think we can chalk this up to the neverending confusion over these two taxa.

As you might expect from such a book, each species includes templates to photocopy onto the paper of your choice...

 ...and step-by-step diagrams and instructions for how to stick everything together. Each page of instructions also has a box with information about the model species, most of which are pretty great and reflect what we know about these animals reasonably accurately considering the context of the book and the amount of space they had to work with.

Tyrannosaurus is described as "both terrifying and ridiculous in appearance", which, I mean, yes if you think Tyrannosaurus looks exactly like this, then ok, but also probably it did not. Nevertheless, I think this model is awesome and I don't know why I haven't made twelve already. 

Quadrupedal animals fare a little bit better, probably because the legs don't need to splay out to the side as greatly in order for the mode to have stability. I like the shiny osteoderms given to this Euoplocephalus and also its sassy sticky-outy tongue, so much so that I'll forgive the spiked tail club knob. Maybe they were going for Anodontosaurus instead.

Because it's the late 1980s, it's basically a requirement that Baryonyx make an appearance, and boy does it make an appearance. Hello, everyone! There's actually a pretty good mix of classic and slightly more obscure dinosaurs in here - fan favourites like Parasaurolophus and Triceratops hang out next to Ouranosaurus and Baryonyx.

Out of 20 models, only 9 are dinosaurs, as it turns out, with the other 11 representing various other prehistoric creatures. There's a couple of pterosaurs, including Pteranodon, Eudimorphodon, and this Pterodactylus, which even features pterosaur fluff! The book makes note that the presence of 'fur' suggests that pterosaurs were warm-blooded, but also makes sure that we know that pterosaurs were slower and less efficient than modern birds, for some reason.

And there's not one but TWO fossil fish in here, the always charming Dunkleosteus and this Eusthenopteron in beautiful shiny gold paper! This one looks particularly fun to put together. This fella also has one of the more elaborate backgrounds, complete with fish tank plant accessories!

And my favourite model in this whole book has to be this staggeringly cute Diplocaulus with racing stripes. LOOK AT IT.

Finally, I just had to share the amazing endsheets - look at those colours, perfectly suited for a scientific diagram, if you ask me. Stuff like this always made me want to sit down and start drawing and crafting. I haven't tried my hand at any of these paper models yet, but hope to soon! Do you have a favourite source for dinosaur papercraft? Tell me all about it in the comments! Until next time!

Vintage Dinosaur Art: Big Animals of Long Ago - The Dinosaurs

Remember being a child in the 1970s? I don't (on account of not yet existing), but having reviewed so many remarkably similar kids' dinosaur books of the era, I feel like I've been there. Tail dragging yet sprightly tyrannosaurs, chunky title fonts, sauropods taking to the land, vibrant yellow-green colour palettes, the oil crisis, flares, the birth of punk; yes, they were probably the days. Let us now introduce Big Animals of Long Ago - The Dinosaurs, yet another identikit children's dino book from 1979. But for one very important twist. (This is another one sent to me by Charles Leon, by the way - cheers fella!)

Written by Ruth Wheeler and illustrated by Harry Baerg, Big Animals makes its level of ambition very clear by its cover, which is a competently executed but rather bland Neave Parker knock-off. Note the standby ferns and horsetails, but otherwise remarkably little in the way of vegetation; the generic beasties in the background are pretty dull, too, although one does sport a peculiar head crest, resembling some sort of corythosaur-cum-retro-sauropod. Three-fingered Rexy (look carefully) is suitably sneering and dismissive.

Shortly after the book's opening, we are introduced to the motley crew of prehistoric beasts. I love the quietly smiling styracosaur-thing, happily walking by as the world's tiniest brachiosaur emerges from the water. The odd beast in the foreground is probably one of those new ornithischian theropods I've been hearing so much about.

Perhaps the most accomplished illustration in the book features none other than Our Bronto - accurate it ain't, but the shading, while simple, is executed effectively to indicate muscular bulk. It appears powerful and hefty, but not overweight.  The classic camarasaur-like head might be wrong, but at least it's drawn with a nicely squared-off snout and retracted nostrils (as was typical at the time). The sweep of the tail is quite graceful - the neck, not so much.

The book pays little heed to chronology (for reasons that will become apparent later), skipping from Jurassic sauropods to Cretaceous ornithopods, and then back again. These are fairly typical pre-Renaissance hadrosaurs (with webbed hands and all), but the more '70s 'Gangly Dork Hadrosaur' (a la McLoughlin) does also make a notable appearance on the right. That one Corythosaurus is all legs, all the time, baby.

A wild Neave Parker Iguanodon appeared! What will you do?

FIGHT
RUN
WARM NOSTALGIC EMBRACE
ROLL EYES

It's nice enough for what it is; I always find those humanoid arms endearing.

Iguanodon gives way to Brachiosaurus, and it's enough to make one wish that Baerg had copied an established palaeoartist a little more closely in this case. The Burianesque feet and fat, lengthy tail are all well and good, but that head is plain weird. It appears to sport a bifurcated crest, like a dilophosaur. It's almost as if Baerg was given a copy of Burian's famous brachiosaur piece that was missing the top of the image, and had to draw the animal's head based on vague descriptions of its appearance.

Given that we've had Brontosaurus and Brachiosaurus already, the inclusion of Diplodocus is only right and proper. This is perhaps one of the most unusual illustrations of this animal that I've seen, simply based on the pose alone. The text obscures a chunk of land that would presumably answer the many, many questions I have about how the perspective works here. I suppose the neck and tail are both in front of the body, with the tail projecting towards us from the base, else there's a vertical drop on the left hand edge. Having said all that, the shading on the body is, again, actually rather nice - one can see the influence of the skinny-o-saurs movement that was gaining momentum in the late '70s, although this remains a healthy-looking creature. At least in terms of fleshiness.

But I've been hiding something from you, dear reader. For this isn't quite a normal kids' dinosaur book.

Turkeys and giraffes, together at last! Oh yes, I'm afraid this is one of those creationist books, although as Ken Ham wasn't yet on the indoctrination scene, it isn't too screamingly in-your-face about it. That doesn't mean there isn't a fair amount of absolute nonsense. The above scene, I imagine, is intended to depict some sort of fantastical paradise in which drooling, toothy wolves leave those tasty deer well alone, because there isn't any Sin around just yet. Unfortunately, it's conspicuously missing a pair of naked people. What Eden is complete without a naked lady with long hair artfully arranged to cover her breasts? And also a man, hidden in the undergrowth except for his manly torso.

In addition to lacking humans, the first Eden scene lacks any saurians. Which is odd, given that that is the focus of the book. For some reason, dinosaurs only arrive when Sin comes. Because someone did a bad thing, Eden's turned all monochrome, and hideous giant diapsid reptiles have invaded in all their ferocious, primordial horror. It'll also now be necessary to have a Pope at some point. At least there's a lot more vegetation here than in the other scenes; if it weren't for the anachronistic species mash-up, it'd be by far the most convincing-looking illustration of the lot. Oh, and Chazza K is presumably hidden behind one of the trees on the right while those hadrosaurs pose for him.

And finally...how did the dinosaurs die? Was it a giant asteroid? Volcanoes? A disease? I read a book by this guy named Bakker, and he said dinosaurs died of disease. But according to Willer, it's none of the above. Rather, there was a great Flood, and they were subsequently all drowned and covered in mud, which hardened to rock in the intervening...number of years. But where did all the water go? Now you're asking too many questions.

Coming next time: something more orthodox, I imagine!

Vintage Dinosaur Art: Animals of Yesterday

As regular readers will have noticed, I've received a great many scanned books by e-mail from Charles Leon, all very gratefully received (even the dino sex article). Animals of Yesterday, originally published in 1941 (with this edition arriving in 1966) is mostly a rather run-of-the-mill pre-Renaissance dinosaur book, stocked with the usual Zallingerian swamp beasts. All the same, it does present certain mysteries that I'd love for any readers familiar with museums in Milwaukee to clear up, and moreover it's a book from Charles' personal collection. I feel quite honoured!

The cover illustration is by far the most spectacular and visually arresting of the lot, and is credited to Harold Price. It depicts the sort of murky, green-brown, primordial swamp world so typical of art of the era; the theropod in the foreground sports a vacant expression reminiscent of the pot-bellied beasts that inhabit Zallinger's Age of Reptiles mural. Still, at least there's a lot going on here, with plenty of lush vegetation and a pair of curious temnospondyl-looking fellows inhabiting the lower right. The waves being kicked up as the centre sauropod powers its way through the water succeed in giving an impression of the animal's massive heft. Fans of freaky giraffoid barosaur memes may also wish to note the curious 'neck seam'.

Sadly, the illustrations inside the book aren't credited; they could have been by Price, too, although the style seems somewhat different. The text (by Bertha Morris Parker) starts off as a fairly typical "imagine yourself back in the Jurassic, look! There's a big lizardy fellow! Blimey, it's hot" second-person narrative, but breaks with this (and chronological order) later. The art is competent enough for the most part, with the above Stegosaurus actually being rather good for its era - note the elevated head.

Stegosaurus is followed by Diplodocus (rather than the more typical Bronto), and here it becomes rather apparent that the illustrator unfortunately lacked a decent reference for the head.

Hurr durr. I do like Parker's musing that Diplodocus would have been wonderful for a parade, although "it would hold up the parade, for it would not be able to move at all fast." I'd still take it over one of the frequently stationary vintage diesel buses that were used for Brighton Pride this year. Especially the one that farted a huge black cloud into my face.

Back to Stegosaurus, here attempting to fight off an amazingly limber Allosaurus. The posture of the theropod on the left is quite wonderfully contorted and bizarre, but you've got to love those wicked crocodile smiles. These are your properly old-school, tail-dragging, spindly-fingered lizardy beasts - none of your "my third nephew's a bird" nonsense around here, thanks.

Most intriguing here is the caption next to the beast on the right - "Models Courtesy of Milwaukee Public Museum." Searches for dinosaur models at said museum turn up lots of photos of a huge diorama featuring a rather '80s/early '90s looking T. rex, but nothing quite as old-school as the creatures featured here. I did manage to turn up one photo of a large Stegosaurus model on its way into the museum, but that's about it. If anyone out there is familiar with the models that some of these illustrations were apparently based on, please let me know - I'm very intrigued! (Here's hoping at least some have survived.)

The dinosaurs are followed by rather dull illustrations of marine reptiles and "A Pterodactyl" (how queer it looks!). They're rather lacking in detail when compared with the other pieces, but at least we're treated to a plesiosaur squatting on a rock, looking rather sorry for itself. Rather oddly, neither marine reptile is named; they're simply "Reptiles of the Sea of Long Ago", and their appearance is described in the text. Amusingly, the text implies that ichthyosaurs couldn't have stayed underwater for very long, 'cos they breathe air don't you know. Try telling a whale.

As previously mentioned, the book rather abruptly ditches the second person narrative and general Jurassic setting halfway in, and instead discusses various prehistoric animals from disparate time periods. So here's Dimetrodon, looking rather handsome. It seems this one was also based on a model, and the leap in detail is quite telling - note the carefully shaded musculature and skin folds, especially around the shoulder region. The artist also depicts Dimetrodon with 'lips', which was the norm before 'shrink wrapping' came into vogue, and is a look that artists have returned to in recent years.

The sole full double-page illustation in the book depicts Eryops - described as having three eyes, "one in the middle of its forehead". It's pretty enough, featuring a decent-looking brown and warty one. When compared with the rest of the book, it emphasises how much a fully-realised scene (with plants, varied terrain etc.) can capture the imagination - I wish they'd allowed the artist to paint a few more scenes like this.

Archaeopteryx next, never knowingly caught with its wings neatly folded. I have a feeling that the one on the left is based on an older piece by a different artist, an impression bolstered by the fact that the feathers are attached more-or-less correctly to the hand, unlike the more typical "wings...but with hands!" version on the right.

And here are some mammoths, reproduced in 1/40 scale. There's a lovely painterly quality to their hair, but in the end, who cares for mammoths? They're just elephants dressed for winter. Boring. Boring mammoths. Total losers. SAD.

And finally...the obligatory timescale, helping the reader grasp the vastness of gelogical time! Except...it's lacking dates. When DID the red bar turn into the yellow bar? How long ago? I must know! At least we get a nice illustration of Triceratops and a rather bony-looking Rexy having a chat, while a mammoth strolls nonchalantly away from a bear. Also some trilobites and stuff. Neat.

Coming up next: I'm off to see Dinosaurs of China in Nottingham! At last.