An account of Mary Anning (1799-1847), fossil collector of Lyme Regis, Dorset, England, published by Henry Rowland Brown (1837-1921) in the second edition (1859) of Beauties of Lyme Regis

Abstract

• The publication of the now rare second edition of the guidebook The Beauties of Lyme Regis... by Lyme native Henry Rowland Brown (1837-1921) is dated to 1859. The known link of Brown’s family to Anning’s increases the significance of his book as a source for her, particularly the second edition which has a more extensive account of her than the first; relevant extracts are reproduced. His book has become a major source for writers on Anning, but only in corrupted form because of incompetent piracy by a later writer in a general magazine.