Edward Cope's reconstruction of Laelaps aquilunguis. This work was on display in the original exhibition as item 11. Image source: Cope, Edward Drinker. "The fossil reptiles of New Jersey," in: American Naturalist, vol. 3 (1869), pp. 84-91, pl. 2.

Paper Dinosaurs 1824-1969

An Exhibition of Original Publications from the Collections of the Linda Hall Library

Ceratosaurus Foraging, 1901 [1920]

Restoration of Ceratosaurus. This work was on display in the original exhibition as item 31. Image source: Gilmore, Charles W. Osteology of the carnivorous Dinosauria in the United States National Museum, with special reference to the genera Antrodemus (Allosaurus) and Ceratosaurus. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1920. Series: Smithsonian Institution. United States National Museum. Bulletin 110, pl. 28.

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Even fifty years after the discovery of Buckland's Megalosaurus jaw, carnivorous dinosaurs remained a poorly understood group. Cope's Laelaps was known only from assorted fragments, and although a new carnivore, Allosaurus, was discovered in 1877, it too was represented only by assorted bits of teeth and bone. Finally, in 1884, the first reasonably complete skeleton of a theropod was found; it was named Ceratosaurus by Marsh, and Marsh published a restoration of the skeleton in 1892. As Marsh commented at the time, not only was the skeleton complete, but all the elements, including the skull, were found in position. Marsh restored it as a biped, with a stance similar to that of Dollo's Iguanodon.

In 1901, J. M. Gleeson did a life restoration of Ceratosaurus, working under the direction of none other than Charles Knight (see right). The drawing has seldom been reproduced in modern secondary literature, but it has a charm and a liveliness that was quite unusual for the period, even by Knight standards. The allure of the Gleeson/Knight drawing can be appreciated by comparing it with another contemporary restoration (below), done by Frank Bond in 1899.

These restorations, and several others, were collected together by Charles Gilmore in 1920 and published in his great monograph on carnivorous dinosaurs. We place the work here in the exhibition to put these two restorations in their proper historical context. 

Restoration of Ceratosaurus. This work was on display in the original exhibition as item 31. Image source: Gilmore, Charles W. Osteology of the carnivorous Dinosauria in the United States National Museum, with special reference to the genera Antrodemus (Allosaurus) and Ceratosaurus. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1920. Series: Smithsonian Institution. United States National Museum. Bulletin 110, pl. 27.

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Marsh’s Ceratosaurus, 1892

In 1884 a nearly complete skeleton of an unknown carnivorous dinosaur was found in Colorado, in the same Jurassic beds that had yielded Brontosaurus and Stegosaurus. It was discovered by M.P. Felch and is here first described by Marsh. He named it Ceratosaurus nasicornis. As restored, the skeleton was twenty-two feet long and twelve feet high. Its closest relative, Marsh guessed, was Ornithomimus.

Restoration of Claosaurus. This work is part of our History of Science Collection, but it was NOT included in the original exhibition. Image source: Marsh, Othniel C. "Restorations of Claosaurus and Ceratosaurus," in: American Journal of Science, series 3, vol. 44 (1892), pl. 6.

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The Smithsonian Ceratosaurus Mount, 1920

Gilmore's memoir on Ceratosaurus could easily have been included in this exhibition in the section on "Great Dinosaur Monographs of the Early Twentieth Century (see items 37-41), but we placed it here because Gilmore included several restorations of Ceratosaurus that were made earlier, around 1900, including a painting by J. M. Gleeson, under the direction of Charles Knight. We show here a photograph of the recently installed Ceratosaurus mount in the United States National Museum (see left). What is interesting about the mount is that the Gleeson drawing is hung on the backdrop of the case, as can be more easily seen in a detail enlargement of the photograph (see right).

Gleeson's illustration next to the Ceratosaurus mount. This work was on display in the original exhibition as item 31. Image source: Gilmore, Charles W. Osteology of the carnivorous Dinosauria in the United States National Museum, with special reference to the genera Antrodemus (Allosaurus) and Ceratosaurus. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1920. Series: Smithsonian Institution. United States National Museum. Bulletin 110, pl. 29.

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Ceratosaurus mount. This work was on display in the original exhibition as item 31. Image source: Gilmore, Charles W. Osteology of the carnivorous Dinosauria in the United States National Museum, with special reference to the genera Antrodemus (Allosaurus) and Ceratosaurus. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1920. Series: Smithsonian Institution. United States National Museum. Bulletin 110, pl. 29.

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