Richard Fallon
@richardfallon.bsky.social
Research Associate in Natural History Humanities at the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge (https://www.esc.cam.ac.uk/staff/dr-richard-fallon). Author of "Contesting Earth's History", "Reimagining Dinosaurs", and more.
Reposted by Richard Fallon
New Vintage Dinosaur Art! And I'm happy to say that it's more Maurice Wilson from the 1950s, courtesy of reader Alexander Guridov. Wilson's art is remarkably well-observed and beautifully painted for the time, and I might get a bit gushing.
Vintage Dinosaur Art: Fossil Amphibians and Reptiles
Last month I reviewed A Guide to Earth History, our first foray into the world of Maurice Wilson’s illustrations in quite some time. At the end of said article, I asked readers (we still have…
chasmosaurs.com
February 11, 2026 at 12:24 PM
New Vintage Dinosaur Art! And I'm happy to say that it's more Maurice Wilson from the 1950s, courtesy of reader Alexander Guridov. Wilson's art is remarkably well-observed and beautifully painted for the time, and I might get a bit gushing.
Reposted by Richard Fallon
11 February 1765, London: birth of Elizabeth Knipe, later Mrs Cobbold, poet, writer & pioneer fossil collector from the Plio-Pleistocene Red Crag Formation of Suffolk. From 1813 to 1824 she sent over 40 fossils to James Sowerby for his Mineral Conchology, one of which he named Nucula Cobboldiae.
![Top left, portrait of Elizabeth Cobbold, her elbow on a table and her chin resting in her hand; bottom left, Nucula [now Acila] cobboldiae, a fossil bivalve illustrated by Sowerby; right, extracts from Sowerby's description of the species.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:vcl75pfg74dsskrzvynq5rez/bafkreiceao6ik5mwz7gpwt32gdtsfmwvecn3qbdoyu4wuda5mqtvu4dpt4@jpeg)
February 11, 2026 at 12:25 PM
11 February 1765, London: birth of Elizabeth Knipe, later Mrs Cobbold, poet, writer & pioneer fossil collector from the Plio-Pleistocene Red Crag Formation of Suffolk. From 1813 to 1824 she sent over 40 fossils to James Sowerby for his Mineral Conchology, one of which he named Nucula Cobboldiae.
Reposted by Richard Fallon
Beowulf — Lynd Ward, 1939
February 10, 2026 at 12:49 PM
Beowulf — Lynd Ward, 1939
I think if Professor Challenger had brought that thing back from the lost world I'd have asked if he had anything else in the crate.
February 10, 2026 at 8:26 AM
I think if Professor Challenger had brought that thing back from the lost world I'd have asked if he had anything else in the crate.
Lucky enough to find The British Novel of Ideas at a CUP sale on Friday. What a brilliant and much-needed book.
February 9, 2026 at 7:57 AM
Lucky enough to find The British Novel of Ideas at a CUP sale on Friday. What a brilliant and much-needed book.
Reposted by Richard Fallon
Friends, my final attempt to secure rights to this image for my book. It’s the installation “Towards a Glass Monument” at Old Quad, U of Melb, created by Tom Nicholson. I’ve tried contacting the uni, the artist, even his assistant. No one replied. Can anyone help?
www.unimelb.edu.au/old-quad/wha...
www.unimelb.edu.au/old-quad/wha...
Towards a glass monument
Towards a glass monument
www.unimelb.edu.au
February 7, 2026 at 5:51 PM
Friends, my final attempt to secure rights to this image for my book. It’s the installation “Towards a Glass Monument” at Old Quad, U of Melb, created by Tom Nicholson. I’ve tried contacting the uni, the artist, even his assistant. No one replied. Can anyone help?
www.unimelb.edu.au/old-quad/wha...
www.unimelb.edu.au/old-quad/wha...
Reposted by Richard Fallon
Big fan of this title page for EF Benson’s Spook Stories (1928)
February 6, 2026 at 5:26 PM
Big fan of this title page for EF Benson’s Spook Stories (1928)
For #FossilFriday, a cute Didymograptus deflexus collected by William Kinsey Dover and his sister Sarah Anne Willes Dover of Keswick, now in the @sedgwickmuseum.bsky.social.
One for the graptolite fans.
One for the graptolite fans.
February 6, 2026 at 8:00 AM
For #FossilFriday, a cute Didymograptus deflexus collected by William Kinsey Dover and his sister Sarah Anne Willes Dover of Keswick, now in the @sedgwickmuseum.bsky.social.
One for the graptolite fans.
One for the graptolite fans.
Reposted by Richard Fallon
"#February in the Isle of Wight," by John Brett, 1866--a little bit of mist pooling in the valley, but full of promise of the coming spring. Looking forward to that! victorianweb.org/painting/bre...
#painting #PreRaphaelites
#painting #PreRaphaelites
February 4, 2026 at 11:27 AM
"#February in the Isle of Wight," by John Brett, 1866--a little bit of mist pooling in the valley, but full of promise of the coming spring. Looking forward to that! victorianweb.org/painting/bre...
#painting #PreRaphaelites
#painting #PreRaphaelites
Reposted by Richard Fallon
"These prehistoric pictures...associate with the name Mr Wood, form a not inconsiderable portion of the exhibition. In most cases the nightmare objects, which the artist would have us believe infested the earth during the "Stone Age"...
Bexhill Observer 15.7.1911. #WyrdWednesday #LawsonWood #Art
Bexhill Observer 15.7.1911. #WyrdWednesday #LawsonWood #Art
February 4, 2026 at 9:15 AM
"These prehistoric pictures...associate with the name Mr Wood, form a not inconsiderable portion of the exhibition. In most cases the nightmare objects, which the artist would have us believe infested the earth during the "Stone Age"...
Bexhill Observer 15.7.1911. #WyrdWednesday #LawsonWood #Art
Bexhill Observer 15.7.1911. #WyrdWednesday #LawsonWood #Art
Just noticed that Quin Hall's incredibly hideous hairy dinosaur in Edgar Rice Burroughs's 1918 novel The Land that Time Forgot (right) is based on the incredibly hideous hairy dinosaur from Lawson Wood's c. 1907 artbook Prehistoric Proverbs (left). And here I assumed Hall was just winging it.
February 4, 2026 at 9:44 AM
Just noticed that Quin Hall's incredibly hideous hairy dinosaur in Edgar Rice Burroughs's 1918 novel The Land that Time Forgot (right) is based on the incredibly hideous hairy dinosaur from Lawson Wood's c. 1907 artbook Prehistoric Proverbs (left). And here I assumed Hall was just winging it.
If you wanted a connection between Godzilla villains and nineteenth-century French Symbolist poetry ... you got it.
![According to Shinichiro Kobayashi, who created the story for Godzilla vs. Biollante, he got Biollante's name from a passage from the poem "Chanson d'automne" by the 19th century French poet Paul Verlaine, specifically the passage:
Des violons
De l'automne
Kobayashi combined the word violon, the French word for "violin," from this passage with the katakana character テ (te), as he noted that no other kaiju used this character in their names. Kobayashi later stated that it was a complete coincidence that Biollante's name seemed to imply biotechnology.[7]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2k2x7yjb5o3fdejbyp5bmduh/bafkreieegffmdcblji3q7noqc6votv5bq2vuafqngrnuxkhe2mxrynj6ra@jpeg)
February 3, 2026 at 8:27 PM
If you wanted a connection between Godzilla villains and nineteenth-century French Symbolist poetry ... you got it.
Reposted by Richard Fallon
@thomasgermain.bsky.social Are you aware that Google Books has effectively stopped working - the material is still there, but all search functions no longer seem to work, making fresh access impossible. Can't find any reportage on this but it seems a major story with huge implications..
February 3, 2026 at 1:35 PM
@thomasgermain.bsky.social Are you aware that Google Books has effectively stopped working - the material is still there, but all search functions no longer seem to work, making fresh access impossible. Can't find any reportage on this but it seems a major story with huge implications..
Reposted by Richard Fallon
Sad news in the UK #histSTM community - my former University of Kent colleague and admired historian of 19thC energy physics and steam ocean navigation, Crosbie Smith, died at the weekend following a short illness. We owe him a great deal.
www.kent.ac.uk/history/peop...
www.kent.ac.uk/history/peop...
February 2, 2026 at 8:45 PM
Sad news in the UK #histSTM community - my former University of Kent colleague and admired historian of 19thC energy physics and steam ocean navigation, Crosbie Smith, died at the weekend following a short illness. We owe him a great deal.
www.kent.ac.uk/history/peop...
www.kent.ac.uk/history/peop...
Reposted by Richard Fallon
*drum roll*
Here is the cover for my book, which will be published by @cornellupress.bsky.social on 15 April 2026!
I thought it would be nice to share a bit of info on who these men were and how their lives and interests inspired the design...
Here is the cover for my book, which will be published by @cornellupress.bsky.social on 15 April 2026!
I thought it would be nice to share a bit of info on who these men were and how their lives and interests inspired the design...
February 2, 2026 at 4:26 PM
*drum roll*
Here is the cover for my book, which will be published by @cornellupress.bsky.social on 15 April 2026!
I thought it would be nice to share a bit of info on who these men were and how their lives and interests inspired the design...
Here is the cover for my book, which will be published by @cornellupress.bsky.social on 15 April 2026!
I thought it would be nice to share a bit of info on who these men were and how their lives and interests inspired the design...
Reposted by Richard Fallon
Creatures of Another Age was fantastic! Foreseeing this being one of my favorite reads of the year. @valancourtbooks.bsky.social themed anthologies are always so great - I loved this just as much as Terrifying Transformations: An Anthology of Victorian Werewolf Fiction that I read a few years ago
February 2, 2026 at 3:38 AM
Creatures of Another Age was fantastic! Foreseeing this being one of my favorite reads of the year. @valancourtbooks.bsky.social themed anthologies are always so great - I loved this just as much as Terrifying Transformations: An Anthology of Victorian Werewolf Fiction that I read a few years ago
Reposted by Richard Fallon
The closure of the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow is the end of a 50 year era stretching back to the Third Eye Centre opening in 1975. The CCA nurtured challenging art, culture and ideas. And its closure marginalises art that dares to take a risk in Scotland.
January 31, 2026 at 5:24 PM
The closure of the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow is the end of a 50 year era stretching back to the Third Eye Centre opening in 1975. The CCA nurtured challenging art, culture and ideas. And its closure marginalises art that dares to take a risk in Scotland.
Reposted by Richard Fallon
One of his pieces in the National Museum at the former Collins Barracks, Dublin.
January 31, 2026 at 11:33 AM
One of his pieces in the National Museum at the former Collins Barracks, Dublin.
A detail from St. Wilfrid & St. John Berchmans, a 1927 stained glass window by the inimitable Harry Clarke. Originally in the Convent of Notre Dame, Glasgow, and now in the Stained Glass Museum, Ely.
January 31, 2026 at 8:10 AM
A detail from St. Wilfrid & St. John Berchmans, a 1927 stained glass window by the inimitable Harry Clarke. Originally in the Convent of Notre Dame, Glasgow, and now in the Stained Glass Museum, Ely.
Reposted by Richard Fallon
My first book, Darwin and the Queer Origins of Life, will be published by Yale University Press on 11 August (UK) and 8 September (US). Please help spread the word! 🙏
UK: yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300... @yalebooks.bsky.social 🏳️🌈📚🐵
US: yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300... @yalepress.bsky.social 🏳️⚧️ 🗃️🦋
UK: yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300... @yalebooks.bsky.social 🏳️🌈📚🐵
US: yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300... @yalepress.bsky.social 🏳️⚧️ 🗃️🦋
January 30, 2026 at 10:21 AM
My first book, Darwin and the Queer Origins of Life, will be published by Yale University Press on 11 August (UK) and 8 September (US). Please help spread the word! 🙏
UK: yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300... @yalebooks.bsky.social 🏳️🌈📚🐵
US: yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300... @yalepress.bsky.social 🏳️⚧️ 🗃️🦋
UK: yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300... @yalebooks.bsky.social 🏳️🌈📚🐵
US: yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300... @yalepress.bsky.social 🏳️⚧️ 🗃️🦋
The most degenerate of all the graptolites: Atavograptus atavus. A suitably decadent choice for #FossilFriday.
January 30, 2026 at 1:44 PM
The most degenerate of all the graptolites: Atavograptus atavus. A suitably decadent choice for #FossilFriday.
Reposted by Richard Fallon
Some #FossilFriday reading - a new publication by Victor Monnin entitled Critical History for Tomorrow's Paleontology
It thinks about how historical research can connect with issues in palaeontology: www.cambridge.org/core/element...
And it's free to download until 10 February, so get it quick!
It thinks about how historical research can connect with issues in palaeontology: www.cambridge.org/core/element...
And it's free to download until 10 February, so get it quick!
Critical History for Tomorrow's Paleontology
Cambridge Core - Palaeontology and Life History - Critical History for Tomorrow's Paleontology
shorturl.at
January 30, 2026 at 10:14 AM
Some #FossilFriday reading - a new publication by Victor Monnin entitled Critical History for Tomorrow's Paleontology
It thinks about how historical research can connect with issues in palaeontology: www.cambridge.org/core/element...
And it's free to download until 10 February, so get it quick!
It thinks about how historical research can connect with issues in palaeontology: www.cambridge.org/core/element...
And it's free to download until 10 February, so get it quick!
The early twentieth century is about the last time a professional illustrator might not have a dinosaur reference at hand and instead relied on the author's similes. Thus this Megalosaurus/Allosaurus in the Je Sais Tout serial of The Lost World. Conan Doyle says the dinosaur resembled a toad.
January 30, 2026 at 8:03 AM
The early twentieth century is about the last time a professional illustrator might not have a dinosaur reference at hand and instead relied on the author's similes. Thus this Megalosaurus/Allosaurus in the Je Sais Tout serial of The Lost World. Conan Doyle says the dinosaur resembled a toad.
Ely Cathedral entering its Impressionist phase.
January 28, 2026 at 8:19 PM
Ely Cathedral entering its Impressionist phase.
King Kong 1933 turns public domain in three years. I hope somebody's planning something that includes this greatly troubled T. rex.
January 28, 2026 at 8:03 AM
King Kong 1933 turns public domain in three years. I hope somebody's planning something that includes this greatly troubled T. rex.