Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Reptiles (1966)

I think almost every dinosaur loving kid had a copy of this book or read it at some point in their life.  My original copy is in fair shape- the pages are good, but the cover is disintegrating.  It features the wonderful and evocative artwork of Rudolf F. Zallinger.  Most of this work comes from his painting The Age of Reptiles which is in the Yale Peabody Museum.  He finished this massive painting in 1947.  I had no knowledge of this at all.  I was happy to have this new book in my collection.  Later on I had the small pocket version of the book, but I have no idea where that disappeared to now.At the time, I had no idea that this was in it's 6th printing (I got mine in 1972 or so).  The book had been published for the first time in 1966, and must have been quite popular.   If you want to see more pictures of creatures inside the book itself, I recommend this blog post here.  It's a really fun blog as well, so check out the other posts.

Now that I have a second, nicer copy, I think I may do something with the pictures, like frame them for a wall mural of my own.  I have a friend who is gifted that way, and it would make the office look really cool.

The book was updated into The Big Golden Book of Dinosaurs, written by Dr Robert T. Bakker and illustrated by Luis V, Rey.  It was published in 2013 and I got my copy signed by Dr. Bakker on 12-14 2013 in Boulder, CO.  It's a pretty neat remake, which all the animals painted in a more modern image.  This means no tail draggers and many feathers.