At first glance this rather nondescript volume seems typical of the larger format of historical, European publications from the mid-19th century which the Society holds in our Rare Books collection. What sets this particular book apart is the accompanying lithographed plates. They are not bound inside but stored separately because they are rather large. The clue to just how large is hinted at in the book’s title
Beschreibung des kolossalen Ichthyosaurus trigonodon in der Lokal Petrefakten-Sammlung zu Banz, nebst synoptischer Darstellung der übrigen Ichthyosaurus-Arten in derselben mit Abbildungen in natuerlicher Groess which roughly translates as ‘Description of the colossal Ichthyosaurus trigonodon in the local fossil collection at Banz, along with a synoptic representation of the other Ichthyosaurus species in the same collection, with life size illustrations’. The titles of a number of the Society’s Rare Books make similar grand claims but can be rather disappointing in reality. This volume really delivers.
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| Plate III showing the fragmented remains of the Ichthyosaur trigonodon found alongside the skull, all depicted natural size. |
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Plate IV representing bones of other ichthyosaur species taken from the Banz collection for size comparison purposes.
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The book’s author Carl Theodori (1788-1857) was a lawyer, amateur palaeontologist and gifted artist. Between 1814-1857 he co-founded the fossil collection at Banz Abbey in Bavaria with the Catholic priest Augustin Geyer (1774-1837) which still exists, largely unchanged, to this day.
The enormous ichthyosaur, which he named
Ichthyosaur trigonodon, was discovered near Banz Abbey during quarrying work in 1842. Fragments of the creature’s skeletal remains were found first. The majority of the ichthyosaur’s trunk and hind fins were lost, which Theodori theorised had been swept away through various floods. Its enormous skull, which measured 2.1 metres long, survived almost intact.
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Plate I laid alongside Plate IV. The smaller skull on Plate IV above is that of an Ichthyosaur tenuirostris
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The sheer size of Plates I and II which show two views of the skull is demonstrated by Megan, our Head of Policy and Communications, who provides a scale. The plates are so large that each is made up of multiple sheets pasted together. It is likely that multiple lithographic stones were also used to create each image.
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Theodori had authored a number of journal articles on other Jurassic fossils found in the Lias around Banz. His first account of this fossil’s discovery appeared as “Ueber einen von ihm bestimmten und abgebildeten colossalen Ichthyosaurus trigonodon” [Munchen, Gelehrte Anz. XVI, col. 906-911] in 1843.
Presumably this did not do the specimen justice as in 1854 Theodori issued this illustrated monograph. The Society's copy was donated by Fellow Roderick Impey Murchison that same year and was reviewed in our Quarterly Journal in 1855.
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Book review of Theodori’s monograph. Note the reviewer Thomas Rupert Jones’ surprise at the size of the accompanying plates. From the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, vol 11 (1855), p41.
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The skull, now named Leptopterygius trigonodon, survives in the Banz Abbey Museum, Bad Staffelstein, Germany.
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| The skull depicted in the early 20th century, from Friedrich von Huene’s ‘Die Ichthyosaurier des Lias und ihre Zusammenhänge’ (1922). GSL Library collection. |
The skull as it is today, on display at the Banz Abbey Museum. Source: Wikipedia Commons
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