Woodsy, after your recent blog on the How and Why Wonder book of Dinosaurs, I managed to nab these 3 off ebay for just over £6 inc p+p. Bargain!
Comparing the Dinosaur UK softback and US hardback versions , the US one (right) is on better quality paper but suffers overcropping of the rhs of the page. Poor Dimetrodon has lost his head!
Whilst I don't remember owning the Mammals book, all the pics look very familiar-maybe I read it at school or had it as a library book. Standing out is the sabretooth on the back of a mammoth in a tar pit!!!! Is this the image you remember?
Timmy Toad
That is a great buy. Sadly, I never had any of these books, although I did have a few others in the How and Why series. In the middle photo, not only has one dinosaur lost his head, the little fellow just below him has lost most of his long tail. The tar pit scene would have made a great Aurora kit, similar to their Woolly Rhino and Vulture.
ReplyDeleteThey did a seperate Sabre Tooth Paul, is that right?
DeleteYes. The Aurora Saber Tooth Tiger kit came out in 1972; and the Giant Woolly Mammoth in 1973. I just thought the How and Why illustration would have also made a great kit. This was another modelling area I was not interested in at the time, so I missed out on some great kits.
ReplyDeleteI agree Paul, it would have made a great Aurora kit.
DeleteI love the Prehistoric Mammal genre.I tend to think of them as living in snow covered mountains or frozen Tundra.That book cover paints them in a new light for me,living in a warm green climate.My old Marx playsets included both Dinosaurs and Mammals.Sometimes it was fun to combine the creatures from different eras(not to mention cavement),but I often separated thr Dinosaurs from Mammals.I would set up the Dinos around the lake with the palm trees,and the Mammals would dwell in the mountains.
ReplyDeleteI love that Brian, the mammals dwelled in the mountains! ha ha, there's a novel in that somewhere! Those dinosaur games you played sound fantastic. I would have joined in if I'd lived next door! I've just found some smooth plastic dinos made in China, which are new but look similar to the old Multiple Toymakers smooth beasts. I wonder if they are being reissued?
DeleteAnyone who wants to have a look at the How and Why books....there are 90 (of the US ones) available to view online/ download in epub/kindle formats at archive.org, the below will take you to the human body one, and list all the others:
ReplyDeletehttps://archive.org/details/HowAndWhySeries/10.how-why-human-body
Thanks Timmy, what a fab fab archive!
DeleteGood gosh, I remember those iconic illustrations like they were yesterday! Good haul!
ReplyDeleteMe too. Part of our DNA now Zigg!
DeleteDon't forget Fossils and Extinct Animals both had more dinosaurs content. The cover of the latter had Starlux models on the reprint covers and the original Dinosaurs eventually had Pyro kits on the cover.
ReplyDeleteFascinating Blogger. Never heard of Starlux dinosaurs or that book. Couldn't see the book online but the toy models look great, thanks!
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