Title: Engraving of ‘Proteo-saurus’, an ichthyosaur from Lyme Regis
Creator: William Clift, James Basire
Description: The fossil on which this image is based, was the most complete example of an ichthyosaur ever found at the time of its discovery by Mary Anning (1799-1847) in 1818.
The image was included in Everard Home’s paper ‘An account of the fossil skeleton of the Proteosaurus’, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, vol.109 (1819), pp209-211.
The specimen, which was owned by Lt-Col Thomas James Birch, was sold in aid of Anning and her family in 1820. It was purchased by the Royal College of Surgeons for the sum of £100, but was destroyed in an air raid in May 1941.
Date: 1819
Format: Engraving
Archive reference: LDGSL/636
Image reference: 03-08
Recommended print size: Up to 100 x 90cm