Marsh's Dinosaurs: The Collections from Como Bluff [Hardcover]

Othniel Charles Marsh died in the last year of the nineteenth century. The names coined by Marsh for his dinosaur discoveries are better known than his own: Brontosaurus, Apatosaurus, Stegosaurus, and Triceratops, to name just a few. Before death intervened, Marsh had planned a series of richly illustrated monographs. The illustrations were prepared, but the monographs on the Sauropoda and Stegosauria were never written.

In 1966, the beautiful but all-but-forgotten illustrations were unveiled by John Ostrom and John McIntosh in the book Marsh's Dinosaurs. Now this wonderful book is again available, with a new introduction by Peter Dodson, and an updated history including the exploration and research that have taken place during the thirty-plus years since the book was originally published.

Marsh's Dinosaurs is not your garden variety dinosaur book. There are no color plates or discussions of the latest controversies. This book focuses on the fossilized bones of dinosaurs that lived near the end of the Jurassic period in North America, and which were discovered in spectacular abundance at a place called Como Bluff, which paleontologist Robert Bakker calls "the Real Jurassic Park."

If you want to see what Stegosaurus plates look like, or the vertebrae of Apatosaurus, the bones are here, with detail that few photographs can capture. Here, too, is the large camarasaurid cranium that Marsh selected as the skull for Brontosaurus. Except for trace fossils such as trackways and a few skin impressions, our notions of what the dinosaurs looked like and how they lived are built on bones, and the bones are here to behold. For anyone whose interest in dinosaurs has gone beyond the popular summary, and who wants to go further than plaster and resin restorations in museum displays, this book is for you.

The illustrations are preceded by a history of the discovery and working of this paleontological gold mine. This section of the book includes watercolors by Arthur Lakes, whose sketches, diaries, and correspondence with Professor Marsh provide an eyewitness account of the thrill of discovery at Como Bluff, as well as the hardships involved, and the inevitable conflicts of the colorful personalities.

For those with an interest in art, the charming watercolors of Lakes provide an interesting counterpoint to the magnificent lithographs. Here we have the human history of discovering dinosaurs, over one hundred years ago, and the history of the dinosaurs themselves, over one hundred million years ago.

I heartily recommend this book to the dinosaur enthusiast. But for those of us with a passion for the denizens of the Jurassic Morrison Formation, this book is a necessity!

"Marsh's Dinosaurs: The Collections from Como Bluff" written by John H. Ostrom and John S. McIntosh is an illustrated lithographic masterpiece of detailed dinosaur bones. This book is for the serious dinosaur predisposed. This book is a serious skeletal anatomy book with lithographs drawn with great detail to a scale, as some of these bones are so immense that they would dwarf a normal sized human being.

Como Bluff, in southeastern Wyoming, was the site of one of the greatest assemblages of giant and small dinosaurs and of minute and extremely precious Jurassic mammals ever to be found. This site has probably had the greatest impact on the study of paleontology. George Peabody and Othiniel Charles Marsh, the two men who, more than any other individuals, were responsible for the founding and rapid growth of palenotology, and the money to excavate this sight. The one hundred and fifty lithograghs published here were originally intended to be part of monographic studies by Marsh of the sauropod and stegosaurian dinosaurs, but now they are out for all to see.

I found this book to be a wonderful comparative anatomy book of the skeletal remains for these dinosaurs. Marsh named the Brontosaurus, now the Apatosaurs, Stegosaurs, and the Diplodocus to name just a few of the dinosaurs found at the Como Bluff site. These dinosaur bones are covered in amazing detail. If you were like me, when I visited the museums I wanted to see the dinosaur bones close up. I wanted to see the detail in the bones displayed, but never got the chance as they were roped off from detailed view or in a glassed in display case where you couldn't get up close and personal with the bones. Now, I can finally see these bones close up and personal. You can see the detail as to where the blood vessels were and ligaments and muscles attached to the bones, and where the weight bareing bones supported the dinosaur as it moved. Even the teeth are shown and you can deduce what the dinosaur ate and how it chewed the food that it ate.

There is so much detail in this book that you can become overwhelmed, but the authors do a good job of explaining the purpose of the bones. The Como Bluff era spanned an interval of slightly more than twelve years, from early April 1877 to mid-June 1889 and thus, left its impression on the history of the American West, just as this book will leave an impression upon the reader of the dinosaurs fossil remains.

"Marsh's Dinosaur: The Collection from Como Bluff" is a solid 5 star book that deserves a place on the bookshelf of your home library.

Othniel Charles Marsh died in the last year of the nineteenth century. The names coined by Marsh for his dinosaur discoveries are better known than his own: Brontosaurus, Apatosaurus, Stegosaurus, and Triceratops, to name just a few. Before death intervened, Marsh had planned a series of richly illustrated monographs. The illustrations were prepared, but the monographs on the Sauropoda and Stegosauria were never written.

In 1966, the beautiful but all-but-forgotten illustrations were unveiled by John Ostrom and John McIntosh in the book Marsh's Dinosaurs. Now this wonderful book is again available, with a new introduction by Peter Dodson, and an updated history including the exploration and research that have taken place during the thirty-plus years since the book was originally published.

Marsh's Dinosaurs is not your garden variety dinosaur book. There are no color plates or discussions of the latest controversies. This book focuses on the fossilized bones of dinosaurs that lived near the end of the Jurassic period in North America, and which were discovered in spectacular abundance at a place called Como Bluff, which paleontologist Robert Bakker calls "the Real Jurassic Park."

If you want to see what Stegosaurus plates look like, or the vertebrae of Apatosaurus, the bones are here, with detail that few photographs can capture. Here, too, is the large camarasaurid cranium that Marsh selected as the skull for Brontosaurus. Except for trace fossils such as trackways and a few skin impressions, our notions of what the dinosaurs looked like and how they lived are built on bones, and the bones are here to behold. For anyone whose interest in dinosaurs has gone beyond the popular summary, and who wants to go further than plaster and resin restorations in museum displays, this book is for you.

The illustrations are preceded by a history of the discovery and working of this paleontological gold mine. This section of the book includes watercolors by Arthur Lakes, whose sketches, diaries, and correspondence with Professor Marsh provide an eyewitness account of the thrill of discovery at Como Bluff, as well as the hardships involved, and the inevitable conflicts of the colorful personalities.

For those with an interest in art, the charming watercolors of Lakes provide an interesting counterpoint to the magnificent lithographs. Here we have the human history of discovering dinosaurs, over one hundred years ago, and the history of the dinosaurs themselves, over one hundred million years ago.

I heartily recommend this book to the dinosaur enthusiast. But for those of us with a passion for the denizens of the Jurassic Morrison Formation, this book is a necessity!