Title: ‘Squellette fossile de plesiosaurus de Lyme-Regis’

Description: Engraving of the second (partially) complete plesiosaur ever discovered. Mary Anning (1799-1847) did not find this fossil herself, instead she purchased it from another local fossil collector for £3 and sold it on for £10 to the French geologist Louis Constant Prevost (1787-1856) during his visit to Lyme Regis in June 1824.

The insert showing the head and neck is taken from an engraving of the Plesiosaurus dolichodeirus, the first complete plesiosaur which was found by Anning in Lyme Regis on the 10 December 1823.

From: Cuvier, G, Discours sur les révolutions de la surface du globe, et sur les changemens qu’elles ont produits dans le règne animal. Paris: Chez G. Dufour et Ed. d’Ocagne. (1826), Plate 3. Head and neck insert taken from:  Conybeare, W D, “On the Discovery of an almost perfect Skeleton of the Plesiosaurus”, Transactions of the Geological Society of London, Series 2, vol 1 (1824), pp381-389. 

Date: 1826

Format: Engraving

Image reference: 27-19

Recommended print size: Up to 16 x 12 inches (40 x 30cm)