December 6, 2011
Dinosaur Sighting: Hardcover Tyrannosaurus
A tyrannosaur bursts from the pages of Arthur Conan Doyle's 'The Lost World'. Photo by Chris Scott.
A close-up of the Lost World tyrannosaur (notice the human with the gun perched right next to it). Photo by Chris Scott.
Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World may not have been the first book to feature dinosaurs, but it certainly has been one of the most influential. The book’s legacy even carries on today—there have been at least six different movie and television interpretations of the book, and there will undoubtedly be more. How fitting, then, that someone NPR’s Robert Krulwich has dubbed the “Library Phantom” should take a hardback copy of Doyle’s book and fashion an “adorably ferocious” tyrannosaur from the pages.
The creation is one of a set of ten, thought to be the last such sculptures to be created by the artist. That’s a real shame. The book sculptures are exquisitely and carefully detailed, and I would have loved to have seen what the author might have done with some more recent dinosaur literature like Jurassic Park or even the lesser-known Raptor Red. Still, I’m thrilled that a bit of dino-lit got the artist’s attention. The tyrannosaur bursting from the book is a wonderful tribute to the lost world Doyle created in people’s imaginations.
If you would like to see more images of this sculpture, see chrisdonia’s Flickr page.
[Hat-tip to reader Greg Leitich Smith who let us know about the book sculptures]
Have you seen a dinosaur or other prehistoric creature in an unusual place? Please send a photo to dinosaursightings@gmail.com.
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Actually, I think The Lost World actually was the first novel to feature dinosaurs. There were a few short stories and longer works that made casual references, but Journey to the Center of the Earth, for instance, actually had no dinosaurs in it — just aquatic reptiles and some mastodons. Dinosaurs, from my understanding, didn’t really become the superstars of paleontology until the start of the 20th century, and in some ways Doyle was cashing in on the dino craze by writing the novel.
Truth be told, even The Lost World is rather light on actual dinosaurs. Much more ink is given to cavemen than prehistoric reptiles.
Hi Walter,
There is actually a little-known French novel which featured dinosaurs that was published a few years before The Lost World. I wrote a brief post about that novel here – http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/dinosaur/2009/03/the-dinosaurs-that-ate-paris/
Ah, looks like an interesting read.