Work on the Victorian Dinosaur: Histories and Prehistories of Nineteenth-Century Palaeontology

In recent studies of Victorian Literature and Science, valuable insights into the history and discursive constitutions of geology, palaeontology, and evolution have often shone a sidelight on the figure of the dinosaur. Few, though, have engaged head-on with the dinosaur itself as a conceptual category. In discussing why, this article aims to provide the reader with a reading list by which they may themselves begin to explore the Victorian dinosaur – as well as a possible justification for so doing.