In writing this book, I am indebted to many specialists for their generous assistance with my research. I would particularly like to thank historian of science Professor Hugh Torrens at the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Keele. In addition to many fascinating discussions on Gideon Mantell, Richard Owen and Mary Anning, I am grateful to Hugh Torrens for giving up valuable time to read the manuscript and for offering expert advice.
At the Natural History Museum in London I would like to thank Dr Angela Milner and Sandra Chapman at the Department of Palaeontology for information on the evidence available to the early geologists and for many helpful insights into the history of palaeonotology. Thank you, too, to John Cooper at the Booth Museum of Natural History in Brighton for allowing me to use his archive collection revealing Mantell’s fate in the 1830s; to Dr Joan Watson at the University of Manchester for information on fossil botany; to Dr David Norman at the University of Cambridge, and to numerous others who have helped with my research. Any remaining errors are my responsibility.
I owe a great deal to the studies of many other scholars cited in the references, and especially to the late John Thackray at the Natural History Museum in London who advised me on Richard Owen’s key articles. The project was also ably supported by the archivists and librarians at the Royal Society of London, the Geological Society, Oxford University Museum, the Crystal Palace Museum and the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris. Thank you to the publishers, John Murray, for allowing me to cite from the works of Richard Owen and William Buckland, and from their biographies; to the Sussex Archaeological Society for kind permission to quote from Gideon Mantell’s unpublished diary; and to John Wennerbom for permitting me to consult his excellent unpublished thesis: ‘Charles Lyell and Gideon Mantell, 1821–1852: their quest for elite status in English geology’.
At Fourth Estate, I owe a debt of gratitude to Christopher Potter for sharing my vision of the possibilities for the narrative and for his skilled editorial judgement at every stage. Leo Hollis at Fourth Estate has been a wonderful support, providing expert guidance on each chapter and seeing the manuscript through to its final version. At Curtis Brown, Jane Bradish Ellames provided valued advice and encouragement for the project over many months.
Finally, special thanks are due to Julia Lilley for being a pillar of strength throughout and for reading and commenting on all the chapters, and to Martin Surr for his excellent judgement on many issues to do with the writing, and for sharing my enthusiasm for the emerging story.