Dinosaur Sighting: Hardcover Tyrannosaurus

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.

For more information related to dinosaurs, visit rareresource.com.