Saltasaurus – the little armoured titanosaur that could – was a staple of popular dinosaur books in the ’80s and ’90s, following its naming in 1980. Sadly, since then, it has largely disappeared from view – displaced, no doubt, by certain much, much larger other South American titanosaurs. Of course, I’ve said all this before, not to mention hosted an art competition based around a terrible pun, but it remains as true today as it was 11 years ago. Alas,…
Here’s part two of our tentative exploration into the early 2000s with the World Atlas of Dinosaurs. Lots of Todd Marshall and Luis Rey to discover, but also I will tell you the real reason I couldn’t resist this book when I found it. Without further ado: Here’s one half of a Tendaguru spread by Todd Marshall. It depicts ceratosaurs in a bout of speculative intraspecific combat. The animals themselves are entirely speculative; the only ceratosaur material from Tanzania is…
Welcome back! You may have previously seen me cover the Ornithomimids and Troodon volumes in the Carolrohda Special Dinosaurs Series. As Don and Donna month enters its second month, it’s time to take a break from all those charmingly dated unfeathered ’90s coelurosaurs (don’t worry, they’ll be back) and take a look at a specialized volume of palaeontology and palaeoart that is charmingly dated in a completely different way! Published, again, in 1996, Seismosaurus – The Longest Dinosaur is the…
We’re back on the trail of the dinosaurs with Mike Benton and Graham Rosewarne, two giants of the extremely niche genre of Popular British Dino Rennaissance Books (always well-represented on these pages). Last time, we looked mostly at Rosewarne’s panoramic compositions and found ourselves maybe a bit less than extremely impressed. But Rosewarne is at his best when drawing dinosaur profiles, and fortunately, this book allows him to do plenty of that. One of Rosewarne’s most famous and well-remembered creations…
It’s a big moment for us: We’ve made our tenth episode! For such a hallmark occasion, what better than to cover a true hallmark of palaeoart? Today is the day the LITC team finally tackles what is both literally and figuratively one of the biggest pieces of classic dinosaur art of all time: Rudolph Zallinger’s The Age of Reptiles, the 34-metre long fresco secco that adorns the walls of the hallowed Great Hall of the Yale Peabody Museum in Connecticut.…
I check the copyright page, and I check it again. 1993? Really? Surely that can’t be true. Surely this book is at least fifteen years newer than that. But no. The proof is right there, undeniable, clear as day. What sorcery is this? Who stole a time machine? How is this book so good? That year again, that fateful year. 1993. The Year of the Dinosaur, according to ancient astrology that I made up. The deluge of dino books from…
Because I’ll wring two blog posts out of any old thing, here’s another round for 1997’s Dinosaurs, part of the Identifying series from The Apple Press. In my previous post, I mentioned that The Mighty Graham Rosewarne had only contributed a single sauropodomorph (Anchisaurus) to this book. But – as so many people have in the last 20 years – I’d forgotten about Saltasaurus. Naturally, there are certain details we’d change these days, but Rosewarne’s Salty looks very sharp for the…
We’re back again today with the ecelctic Reuzen Uit De Oertijd, or Discoveries’ Dinosaurs, the Australian not-quite-Eyewitness-level nineties nostalgiavaganza featuring a plethora of works by different artists. Many of you told us you remember this one from your childhoods, so I hope I’m not going to ruin your opinion of it too much. Since last we spoke, I have returned this book to its actual owner, so all I’ve got left is the scans. I’m sure there’s enough in here…
Last time, as we took our first look at the treasure trove of unique palaeoart that is The Great Dinosaurs, a lot of people seemed blindsided by just how good Jan Sovák’s art is. Although there are plenty of 90s tropes to go around, there is definitely something timeless about Sovák’s style that sets him apart from the trends of the day. His work just has an artistic flair that is distinct from the hyperreal dioramas of Sibbick, Paul, Robinson…
Welcome back to This Mesozoic Month, the roundup of news, blogging, multimedia content, and art related to life of the Mesozoic era. I’ve made the decision that this will be the final edition of the series. These regularly scheduled roundups have been going since December 2016, preceded by less regular Mesozoic Miscellany posts. These simple posts take more time to compile than they might look like, and it’s time I just can’t spare any more. Thank you to everyone who…
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Chasmosaurus belli silhouette in custom bulleted list by Scott D. Sampson, Mark A. Loewen, Andrew A. Farke, Eric M. Roberts, Catherine A. Forster, Joshua A. Smith, and Alan L. Titus, CC BY-SA 3.0. Sourced from PhyloPic.