Animals of the Past, 1900
by Frederick A. Lucas

This book, first published in 1900 (my copy dates from 1902) contains many black and white illustrations (plates)
by Charles R. Knight and James M. Gleeson.  The author, Frederick A. Lucas, was the Curator of the Division of
Comparative Anatomy,  United States National Museum (and later, the Director of the American Museum of Natural History). 

Lucas has this to say about the illustrations: "The original drawings, made especially for this book, are by Charles
R. Knight and James M. Gleeson, under the direction of Mr. Knight...[Knight] is the one artist who can picture
prehistoric animals with artistic charm of presentation as well as with full scientific accuracy.  In this instance, the
author has personally superintended the artist's work, so that it is correct in every respect as present knowledge
makes possible."



 

These are two of Gleeson's drawings of prehistoric animals, Tylosaurus and Ceratosaurus.  The Ceratosaurus
illustration has rarely been reproduced in other books.




This is one of Charles R. Knight's early illustrations of Stegosaurus which according to Czerkas and
Glut (Dinosaurs Mammoths and Cavemen: the Art of Charles R. Knight) was "the first reasonably accurate
restoration of the animal."  Note that Czerkas and Glut provide a color version of this illustration in their book.
In a later edition of Lucas's book (my copy dates from 1920) issued by the American Museum of Natural History,
the Knight painting was replaced by a photo of a Stegosaurus model, that was prepared by Knight for the
American Museum of Natural History.

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