Freed from the confines of the encyclopedia format, Kirk’s stunningly stripy theropods stalk, hunt, and lunge towards the viewer. The above scene, depicting Coelophysis, Massospondylus, Metoposaurus (the temnospondyl) and Trilophosaurus (the, er, non-dinosaur reptile) is typical. Happily, we are treated to some classic Kirk here too.Ī series of panorama images break up the dino-catalogue, and they’re far, far more exciting than anything else on offer here. Kirk’s name, for me, evokes memories of brightly-coloured dinosaurs, running around in vibrant landscapes and illustrated from intriguing, jaunty perspectives – not the competent, but very dull reconstructions that pepper this book. First published in 1992 (with this edition arriving in 1993), it features a huge number of rather bland-looking brown, green and grey reconstructions of prehistoric animals (not just dinosaurs), which I never would have attributed to Steve Kirk were it not for a credit in the back. The Gollancz Dinosaur Encylopaedia for Children – confusingly “conceived, edited and designed by Marshall Editions” but published by Victor Gollancz, “an imprint of Cassell” (which itself has a convoluted history) – is mostly a rather straightforward ‘spotters guide’-type book, with isolated illustrations of animals featuring alongside a short bit of text describing them. And priced at just 49 pence! Not even this book’s clear designation as being For Children could deter me. Imagine my delight, then, when I found hitherto unseen Kirkwork in a book for sale in an Oxfam bookshop on Blatchington Road, Hove, just a short walk from where I live. Who doesn’t love a bit of Steve Kirk? I’ve featured his work numerous times on LITC over the years – both here and over on version 1.0 – and I simply can’t get enough.
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