A 3-Volume Reference Challenge

[dale mcinnes <wdm1949@hotmail.com>]

Ben.  In referal to that hypothetical trilogy of producing for palaeoart

a 3-volume extravaganza on a palaeobotanical sweep of the entire

Phanerozoic [palaeozoic/ mesozoic/ cenozoic], check out the 1987 

publication by the dendrologist Alan Mitchell titled "Trees of North 

America". It is heavily illustrated by David More. The book is sectioned

into [Broadleaved trees/ Conifers/ Biogeographical range maps].


Each species is illustrated in full color [bark/ branches/ fruits/ leaves in 

all seasonal colors/ and seeds]. B&W silhouettes of full trees without their

leaves and with their leaves at different ontological stages of their growth 

as well as changes in their bark patterns. Then there is a B&W silhouette

of how each species would look in a forest environment complete with a

B&W silhouette of a flying eagle and deer indigenous to that range.


I came across a pristine volume in Indigo [subsiduary of Chapters]. It cost

all of $ 15.oo. Weird or what !!


Ours would be much harder. We would have to break ours down to geological

chronology/ a palaeogeographical range/ and palaeoenvironments that in 

many cases we would be guessing at ... taking our best shot at.


It would be a lot of work and a hell of a reference trilogy for both scientific 
artist 

and researcher. The money would be almost trivial compared to putting together

a team committed to a stretch of time involving a couple of years or so.