Following a perusal of the ACTION PACK as a whole in my previous post, let’s now have a closer look at the two books included within. The first of these, like the pack itself (and the somewhat related Eyewitness book), is simply entitled Dinosaur, and serves as a basic primer as to what dinosaurs are …
What began with an examination of 1994’s Eyewitness Dinosaur video has lead me to this – purchasing a children’s activity pack from eBay. Ah, but not any children’s activity pack, for this one includes warm 1990s nostalgia alongside a pop-out card model, board game and (gasp!) “five facsimile documents”. Yes, it’s the DK ACTION PACK …
Back we go into the wonderfully Bernard Robinson-illustrated world of 1978’s Dinosaurs, from St Michael (aka Marks and Spencer). Except this time, we’re actually looking at the art from this book that wasn’t provided by Robinson, but is instead attributed to various agencies. It’s a shame that we can’t put specific names to pieces, but …
Not so long ago, I looked at a book sold under a supermarket brand (in the UK at least), and now here’s one that was published under the banner of the British department store chain, Marks and Spencer. Or at least, under their St Michael sub-brand, which I remember from my childhood, but doesn’t seem …
Last time around, we had a look at various illustrations of theropods from 1977’s A natural history of Dinosaurs (this edition being from 1978), authored by Richard Moody and involving an assortment of artists. While theropods are obviously the Best Dinosaurs, I’m aware that there are people out there – strange people, no doubt – …
Although it was during the early 1990s when I first became interested in dinosaurs and dinosaur art, much of what was floating around back then had been produced decades prior. This only intensified when A Certain Movie came along, and everyone rushed out whatever dinosaur-festooned tat and half-hearted books they could to cash in. If …
Never judge a dinosaur book by its cover. The first edition of Naish and Barrett’s Dinosaurs: How They Lived and Evolved, back in 2016, had an eye-wateringly dreadful example of NHM (London) stock image muck on its cover, but the book itself was excellent, as I noted at the time. While the art on The …
There are certain books that you’ll be absolutely certain you’ve seen before, but just can’t quite place where or how. This was just such a book for me. T. R. (Tyrannosaurus rex) & Friends was published in 1988, and would’ve still been hanging around in bookshops when I first got into dinosaurs as a child, …
Welcome back, at long last, to the wonderful world of vintage dinosaur books authored by Professor William Elgin Swinton, typically credited as simply W. E. Swinton. A Scottish palaeontologist who had a berth at the London NHM before moving to Canada, Swinton is probably best known among palaeoart aficionados for writing an official NHM book …
I love pop-up books, and reviewed a load of them over on LITC Mk 1 – ranging from little-known National Geographic efforts illustrated by John Sibbick and Ely Kish, to slightly ropy work from illustrators who were probably just trying to pay the bills. My latest eBay acquisition – Great Dinosaurs – is probably a …