Digging for Dinosaurs, 1960 and 1967 (new edition)
By Edwin H. Colbert and William A Burns.

The original 1960 version of this book (left), was published by "Panorama, a Service of Columbia
Record Club" and included a companion record and a series of color slides.  Unfortunately the record
and slides were not included in my copy of the book, which I purchased used.  The photos and
illustrations in the book are monochromatic, although it appears that the slides were color versions of
these monochromatic images.

The 1967 version of this book (right) was not published with a record or slides, but instead the pages
included color versions of the monochromatic images presented in the 1960 edition.  The text has also
been modified.  Digging for Dinosaurs does not contain many illustrations of dinosaurs and other
prehistoric reptiles, but at least the illustrations are presented in color and include a few of Charles R.
Knight's American Museum of Natural History paintings.  So if you want to get a copy of this book,
make sure you get the 1967 revised version (besides, who owns a slide projector and record player
nowadays anyway?).



This illustration of a Pteranodon is a reworked version of an older illustration of a Pteranodon
that has appeared in several older books on prehistoric animals (see Earth for Sam, for example). 
Unfortunately, Colbert and Burns do not list the illustrator of this reworked version.



Digging for Dinosaurs contains two crops of a beautiful George J. Geselschap mural that used to be on
display at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City (I haven't been to the Museum in
a while, so I do not know if it is still displayed).   This crop shows a grouping of Stegosaurs.  The other
crop shows a couple of Allosaurs with three Camptosaurs in the background (see the cover illustration
on the 1960 version, above).

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