Long to the best of my knowledge, aside from a number of works for young people (some of which are semi-fictionalized), there have only been two biographies written of Mary Anning over the past few decades: Shelley Emling’s The Fossil Hunter; Dinosaurs, Evolution, and the Woman Whose Discoveries Changed the World from Griffin / St. Martins Press – which I have read and found very much to my liking – and Patricia Pierce’s Jurassic Mary; Mary Anning and the Primeval Monsters from The History Press – which I have not yet read. However as of this past October, the number has now been raised to three – and it is this third of which all those interested in the life of this remarkable woman should take particular note.
Published by The Dovecote Press, the small Dorset-based independent publisher from which originally emerged the award-winning Little Toller Books as an imprint in 2009, Tom Sharpe’s The Fossil Woman; a Life of Mary Anning presents a “fresh and often surprising look at the achievements of a woman who is finally gaining the recognition she merits.”
While I haven’t yet read Mr. Sharpe’s new book, a quick look through it shows it to be richly illustrated, extensively notated, of outstanding credentials applicable to the purpose, and of every indication of being a work of serious scholarship regarding its subject. I very much look forward to discovering if my assumptions in this are correct.
Available from:
Other books cited in this article:
Via Blackwell’s
Jurassic Mary; Mary Anning and the Primeval Monsters
Via Amazon.com
The Fossil Hunter; Dinosaurs, Evolution, and the Woman Whose Discoveries Changed the World
Jurassic Mary: Mary Anning and the Primeval Monsters
