Is there a book like this?

[tyrantqueen]

I'm searching for a particular kind of book. I am interested in various skeletal mounts of prehistoric animals that have been displayed in museums. I like to see how museums have updated their displays over the years. Is there a book like this, that has lots of photography of museum skeletal mounts?

This is the sort of thing I'm interested in



I purchased an out of print book, titled Next of Kin: Great Fossils at the American Museum of Natural History. It seems to be the sort of thing I'm looking for, but I haven't received it yet from Amazon so I don't know if it's any good or not. Does anyone else own this book?

Thanks

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Hmm..I'm not sure if a book like that exists or not..I know older books would skeletal mounts from the time period and newer ones would have the current thinking.   Actually I think many museums are still updating their mounts..I've seen pics of lots of them that are still showing older ideas.

[tyrantqueen]

Thanks for the reply. That's a shame there isn't one like that out there. Skeletal mounts are really cool.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Agreed. I love to see all the different ways they are reconstructed.  Gives me good ideas for poses as well.

[HD-man]

I purchased an out of print book, titled Next of Kin: Great Fossils at the American Museum of Natural History. It seems to be the sort of thing I'm looking for, but I haven't received it yet from Amazon so I don't know if it's any good or not. Does anyone else own this book?

It is & I do, although I also recommend Norell et al.'s Discovering Dinosaurs: Evolution, Extinction, and the Lessons of Prehistory, Expanded and Updated ( http://www.amazon.com/Discovering-Dinosaurs-Evolution-Extinction-Prehistory/dp/0520225015/ref=la_B001H9XFL4_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1388302571&sr=1-2 ).

[tyrantqueen]

I purchased an out of print book, titled Next of Kin: Great Fossils at the American Museum of Natural History. It seems to be the sort of thing I'm looking for, but I haven't received it yet from Amazon so I don't know if it's any good or not. Does anyone else own this book?

It is & I do, although I also recommend Norell et al.'s Discovering Dinosaurs: Evolution, Extinction, and the Lessons of Prehistory, Expanded and Updated ( [ur=http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0520225015/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0520225015&linkCode=as2&tag=dinoshop-20l]http://www.amazon.com/Discovering-Dinosaurs-Evolution-Extinction-Prehistory/dp/0520225015/ref=la_B001H9XFL4_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1388302571&sr=1-2[/url] ).

Thanks

[HD-man]

Thanks

Anytime.

[Joel]

Hey TyrantQueen, I have Next of Kin, and it's a really great book. It has a few shots of the early years, but mostly it is recent photos the museum. A book with photos of mounts from almost every museum would be great, but I think it would be rendered obsolete within a couple of years due to changes in the displays and so forth.

Also, I sent you a PM. 

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Hey TyrantQueen, I have Next of Kin, and it's a really great book. It has a few shots of the early years, but mostly it is recent photos the museum. A book with photos of mounts from almost every museum would be great, but I think it would be rendered obsolete within a couple of years due to changes in the displays and so forth.

Also, I sent you a PM. 

It would be obsolete eventually..but many museums I've heard are notoriously slow to change their mounts.

[tyrantqueen]

Hey TyrantQueen, I have Next of Kin, and it's a really great book. It has a few shots of the early years, but mostly it is recent photos the museum. A book with photos of mounts from almost every museum would be great, but I think it would be rendered obsolete within a couple of years due to changes in the displays and so forth.

Also, I sent you a PM. 

Thanks for comment I did expect the book to be a bit outdated, to be honest, given that it was published in 1996

[wings]

I'm searching for a particular kind of book. I am interested in various skeletal mounts of prehistoric animals that have been displayed in museums. I like to see how museums have updated their displays over the years. Is there a book like this, that has lots of photography of museum skeletal mounts?...

There are books with skeletal mounts but I'm not sure whether you might find them a tad expensive/difficult to acquire. Souvenir books/catalogs from travel exhibits often have plenty of mounts in them (such as books like "The Great Russian Dinosaurs" (ISBN 0732605032) , "Dinosaurs from China" (ISBN 0724146253)  or "Dinosaur World Tour" (ISBN 065512900194)). Maybe they are available in some second hand book stores.  Books like museum catalog does have plenty of skeletal mounts as well such as one published by the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum (ISBN 4990075412, Japanese with English translation). Not quite just museum mounts but this one is on tyrannosaurs http://www.bhigr.com/store/product.php?productid=6&cat=21&page=2. Or you can go all out and get books like these (see below):

http://page2.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/b148319574
http://page16.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/u55998910
http://page10.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/m109629920
http://page11.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/n128037176
http://page18.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/w93990911

I know the covers weren't that great but they do contain quite a lot of skeletal mount images in them (if this is solely what you are after). However the above list are all in Japanese and also you might need a proxy to get them (which could probably cost you more than the actual articles...).

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

That might be a good alternative.

[tyrantqueen]

Thank you wings, that's a step in the right direction

[wings]

Thank you wings, that's a step in the right direction

I'm glad you like them though some of them are quite obscure. Maybe you could ask around to see if any members are going to any upcoming exhibits or museums and see if they can help you get/purchase some catalogs/souvenir books.

[dinosours]

Hi, I'm working on a dissertation on the history of museum fossil mounts, and I'm afraid that there are aren't any really comprehensive books on the subject, especially not with good pictures!

You might want to check out the photo archives of major museums...most have great historic photos of how their exhibits have changed over time, and how their old fossil mounts have endured over the passing decades:

http://siarchives.si.edu/collections/search?query=dinosaur&online=true&page=1&perpage=10&sort=relevancy&view=list
http://images.library.amnh.org/photos/ptm/search/find?view=grid&ipp=25&q=dinosaur&x=0&y=0

If you're interested in reading up on fossil mounts, one good book is The Second Jurassic Dinosaur Rush by Paul Brinkman, which covers the "golden age" of museum paleontology at the turn of the 20th century.

I've also been posting mini profiles of notable museum fossil mounts on tumblr, with old and new pictures and basic info like who built it and when. http://dino-sours.tumblr.com/tagged/meet-a-mount

Hope that's of some help. 

[tyrantqueen]

Thank you, I found the link to the photo archives of the museum to be helpful . I'm not sure about the book you recommended. I'm interested if it's concerning the fossils themselves, but if it goes into the history of Cope, Marsh and their escapades AGAIN (something I see in so many books and I'm sick of), I think I'll pass Sorry, I don't mean to come across as rude, it's just the way I feel.

[dinosours]

I totally agree, the Cope and Marsh story is pretty played out. Brinkman's book is about the generation that followed, when museums were sending out fossil hunters specifically to find dinosaurs to display. But yeah, if you're not into old timey paleontologists, you might want to pass. 

[Pachyrhinosaurus]

Those are such wonderful photographs! Its nice to see how modern museums have changed. The book looks interesting, I might just order one.

[Iguanocolossus]

I would love a book on this myself