THE LITTLE GOLDEN BOOK OF DINOSAURS by Jane Werner Watson Illustrations by William de J. Rutherfoord When I was a kid, this was the book I considered to have the most "realistic looking" dinosaur art. The artist obviously studied photographs of living repltiles and used those as the basis for his dinosaur reconstructions. The name William de J. Rutherfoord sounds like a character from a Kurt Vonnegut novel*(see below). I wonder if this was a psuedonym. Jane Werner Watson also wrote the Big Goldden book of Dinosaurs with illustrator Rudolph Zallinger.

Usually Tyrannosaurs fought Triceraropses in these books. This was a cool and unusual pairing.

A great Allosaurus patterned after a marine iguana.

* I received the following very kind note from the wife of the illustrator of this book:

March 29, 2008

Dear Doubtboy,   RE: Little Golden Book of Dinosaurs

The artist who illustrated "The Little Golden Book of Dinosaurs" really legally owned his name of William deJ. Rutherfoord.  He was born in Roanoke, Virginia, March 4, 1919, and lived there until he went overseas with the United States Army during World War II.

Just prior to enlisting he had briefly attended The Corcoran School of Art in Washington, D.C., where he specialized in landscape painting.  He won numerous awards and his work was exhibited in several cities in the USA.

While in the Army he was transferred to the 25th Infantry Division headquarters and during its time in the Pacific Theater he and the division photographers would go up to the front lines and record the troop action.  Rutherfoord did pen and ink sketches of the battles and from these 'on the spot' sketches he compiled a book illustrating the battle for the Philippines.  He wrote the captions for each picture and the narrative describing the horrific struggle to regain control of the Pacific Islands the Japanese had taken.  The book was printed in Japan and was entitled "165 Days."  Every soldier in the Division received a copy.

After the war Rutherfoord lived and worked in New York City until the 1960s.  He then entered The Episcopal Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Virginia, and was ordained a priest in 1967.  Rutherfoord served parishes in Virginia and Georgia before retiring.  He died on March 10, 2001.

June Rutherfoord
Widow

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