This time, I have a somewhat eclectic selection of content, including two exciting new additions to my collection from Mercari, a few more early Showa-era dinosaur books, and some recently discovered books related to Jules Verne's "Journey to the Center of the Earth." Since I've been featuring rather academic (?) content recently that didn't quite fit the name "Treasure House," I'm returning to my roots with a show-and-tell of my latest acquisitions.

First, let's talk about adopting Taburin-san's Oviraptor.

Taburin-san is an expert in creating wooden dinosaur skeleton models, known to those in the know, and his works are even displayed in museums. I own one myself and introduced his Allosaurus skull in New Treasure House Vol.21.

Actually, I'm new to Mercari, and I only recently learned that Taburin-san was selling his works there. They would sell out immediately, leaving me feeling disappointed. This time, the timing was right, and I was able to happily acquire this 1/10 Oviraptor skeleton. Take a good look!

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It's about 20cm long and terrifyingly delicate. How on earth does he carve these ribs?! Taburin-san himself commented that this size is the limit for a full-body skeleton. While Taburin-san has created many large works over 1m, I was lucky to get one of his smallest pieces, especially an Oviraptor with such a complex head shape.

This is a scene where all the oviraptorosaurs (hereafter referred to as oviraptorids) in my house gather to welcome the Taburin Oviraptor.

First, the skeletons

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The one at the top is a Caudipteryx by Scissorhands, another master paper cutter whose work is astounding even now, as I mentioned in New Treasure House Vol.43. This one is even smaller, at 10cm. The "Hakubutsu Festival" will be held again this July. I'm looking forward to Scissorhands' new works.

The second row features replicas purchased at a mineral show. The two on the left are Conchoraptors (or Ajancingenia). The card states that the large-crested specimen is an undescribed species of Oviraptor, but it might be a different genus now. The current oviraptorid world is challenging for an amateur like me to navigate, with many genera being re-identified.

Below that is a reduced Oviraptor replica made with a modern 3D printer, purchased at a recent mineral show. I actually also bought a kit for an even smaller full-body skeleton. I'll show it to you once I assemble it. Next to that are items from the ANTS skull series, which often appear in the Treasure House these days, and from a Safari skull tube.

The egg replica was probably acquired in the early 90s and is very elaborately made. The plate on the splendid stand is inscribed with "Dinosaur Egg" and "Protoceratops." It's a relic from the egg thief era. Naturally, the same shape is now sold as an Oviraptor egg.

Next to it are three-directional photos of a real fossil purchased at a mineral show over 20 years ago. It's a right foot, with four incomplete but complete toes. (It's a shame the ungual phalanges are missing!)

It also comes with a data card that reads, "Oviraptor philloceratops: Upper Cretaceous: Djadokhta FM. Ömnögovĭ. Mongolia."

In old mineral shows, such literal treasures were displayed at affordable prices.

Figure Edition

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Oviraptor is an ancient dinosaur discovered by the Andrews Expedition, but surprisingly, to my knowledge, no figures existed until the 1990s. Neither manufacturers like Marx and Starlux, who produced dinosaur series in the 50s-70s, nor Kaiyodo's early garage kits featured its name. However, the Velociraptor, also associated with the Andrews Expedition, only came into prominence after JP in '93.

I've gathered hairless Oviraptors in the top row. The one on the left is an Alcard garage kit from around 1993, introduced in Treasure House Vol.64. Its pose clearly depicts an egg thief, looking around cautiously as it tries to steal eggs.

The one in the center, I believe, is quite rare. I bought it at the American Museum of Natural History in New York in 1998 (Treasure House Vol.20). I haven't seen it on any overseas collector sites. The manufacturing year is unknown, but I suspect it's from the early 90s.

The one on the right is from PAPO, but it was released in 2009. By then, the egg-thief suspicion had been cleared, and it was the era when oviraptors were known to have feathers. So, this is likely a deliberate nostalgic reconstruction by PAPO, a company known for releasing Godzilla-standing T-rexes.

The middle row features products from Safari, which for some reason puts a lot of effort into oviraptorids. From left: Caudipteryx (2005), Oviraptor (2006), brooding Oviraptor (2008), and Kutchipati (2019). I haven't purchased it yet, but there's also Anzu (2018).

*Kutchipati is the name used on Wikipedia. Various names are used in Japan.

The bottom row features a Kisipati (labeled as "Shichipati") from the Kannamachi Dinosaur Center, a CollectA Gigantoraptor (2009) and Oviraptor (2010), a brooding Ovi by dinosaur ceramic artist Takao Ito (New Treasure House Vol.26), and the latest Kutchipati (labeled as "Citipati"). This is from the 1000-yen gacha "Encyclopedia of Living Things" released in January this year, with the original sculpt by Shinzen Takeuchi. Here, it is protecting its own eggs from thieving mammals. The tables have truly turned.

For other Ovi food toys, please visit the always helpful "Dinosaur Toy Museum". My "Takao Ito brooding Ovi" has siblings there.
This one is Shikipati.

The oviraptorid's egg-thief suspicion was cleared after brooding fossils were discovered in 1995 (described as Kutchipati in 2001). In 1998, Caudipteryx with feather impressions was described, and the current image of oviraptorids began to form.

However, I can't help but think that while the false accusation by the Andrews expedition was cleared, there's no evidence that oviraptorids didn't eat eggs. They certainly have beaks that look like they could crack eggs.

Isn't oophagy a normal behavior for animals? I vaguely remember seeing a shocking scene on Darwin a long time ago, where an Ezo squirrel attacked a crow's nest and ate its eggs during a conflict between Ezo squirrels and crows in a park in Hokkaido.

Humans also love eggs...

Now, the second treasure from Mercari this time is a T-Rex skeleton origami. As introduced in New Treasure House Vol.23, a completed work of the "T-Rex Skeleton Origami Diagram" left by the legendary origami artist Issey Yoshino, who passed away suddenly at a young age, was listed on Mercari. I never thought I'd be able to get my hands on a finished product, so I bought it immediately. I made the stand myself.

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Mercari is amazing for selling things like this. Now, let's look at the recent results of my life's work: collecting ancient dinosaur books.

"The Great Wonders of Earth's Evolution"

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This is a color feature from the January 1, 1928, issue of "Shonen Kurabu" magazine (Dainippon Yubenkai Kodansha). I knew of this book's existence previously because it was featured in "Bessatsu Taiyo: Nekketu Shonen Zufu" (New Treasure House Vol.44), but I never imagined I'd get my hands on it. It was purely by chance that I found it at an online used bookstore. The magnificent illustrations are by Katsuchi Kabashima, a famous manga artist and illustrator, though I hadn't known of him before.

"Illustrated Outline of Ishikawa's Zoology and Botany" (1934, Gakugei Shoin) and "Kagaku Gaho" May 1933 issue, "Exploring the Prehistoric World"

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Chiyomatsu Ishikawa was a zoologist who contributed to the spread of evolutionary theory in Japan. "Animal Evolutionary Theory," published in 1883 by Morse (narrator) and Chiyomatsu Ishikawa (writer), is mentioned in New Treasure House Vol.65.

In "History of Earth and Life," a children's book co-authored with Manjiro Watanabe and published in 1930 (New Treasure House Vol.7), dinosaurs appear. However, in this "Outline of Zoology and Botany," the reptile section only states, "Reptiles were numerous and included the largest animals of all in the Middle Geological Age (as per original text)," with no mention of dinosaurs. It seems, however, that he couldn't omit Archaeopteryx when explaining evolution, as he discusses the discovery and exhibition of the London and Berlin specimens, even including his own hand-drawn sketch of the Berlin specimen. Although his drawing skills aren't particularly impressive.

Strangely, he doesn't use the Japanese name Archaeopteryx, which should have been common by then, having been coined by Matjiro Yokoyama. Instead, he calls it Jabicho (Snake-tailed Bird?). Was there some friction between the two? In fact, it's possible they met in Germany around the late 1870s through Mori Ogai. Both their names appear consecutively in Mori Ogai's "German Diary." It would be interesting to delve deeper into this, but it's outside my area of expertise, so I'll leave it at that.

I found "Kagaku Gaho" at Mandarake in Nakano, thanks to the striking Megatherium on the cover. I'm grateful to the artist, Sadashi Terajima.

And as for the special feature "Exploring the Prehistoric World," it covers:

The creation of the Earth and its aftermath / Changes in continents in prehistoric times / The age of rampant reptiles / When did humans evolve? / The flourishing forests of the Carboniferous period / The evolution of elephants and saber-toothed cats.

It's an all-encompassing content, and to top it off, it includes a poster-sized "Natural History of Humankind" (with a timeline of Earth's evolution on the back), suggesting the satisfaction of readers at the time.

Finally, a new discovery related to Jules Verne's "Journey to the Center of the Earth," a book I'm trying to collect all Japanese translations of. First, please take a look at Treasure House Vol.54 and New Treasure House Vol.28. I thought I was closer to completing this collection than "The Lost World" by Conan Doyle (New Treasure House Vol.77), which is another complete collection goal, as I've added several more books since then. However, I found an unexpected pitfall here. These are short adaptations secretly hidden in seemingly unrelated books.

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"Discovery of the Subterranean Continent!!" is a short comic strip included in Shogakukan's educational comic "Great Subterranean Adventure" (1976), with a note stating that it was created based on Jules Verne's original subterranean adventure. The story, although heavily abridged, follows the original, featuring Professor Lidenbrock and Axel, who wear strange subterranean suits. Saknussemm's cipher and the forest of giant mushrooms also appear, and they encounter a plesiosaur in the subterranean sea. However, for some reason, ichthyosaurs do not appear, and the battle is between plesiosaurs.

"Great Subterrane" is a front-page color feature from the March 1969 issue of Shonen Magazine. Across four spreads, it showcases key points of "Journey to the Center of the Earth," such as the mushroom forest, the subterranean sea, lava flows, and the temple of Atlantis. This one also includes scenes from the movie version. This feature is deep, not only introducing "Journey to the Center of the Earth" but also Gardner's "Journey to the Hollow Earth" and Burroughs' "Pellucidar."

*The illustration for the Pellucidar scene is by Shigeru Komatsuzaki. It's a spectacular depiction, with many Mahars watching the battle between a sabertooth tiger, Tarag, and a subterranean man in an arena, all drawn in intricate detail. I'd like to show it to you, but perhaps another time.

Both of these two books were obtained on Yahoo Auctions, but since "Journey to the Center of the Earth" was not on the cover, I almost missed them. I'm sure there are still more "Journey to the Center of the Earth" (and "Lost World") books of this type out there.

It's an endless collector's path where I don't even know if I've completed it, but I'll keep collecting until I run out of time.

Since I recently acquired "Journey to the Center of the Earth" and got inspired, I think the theme for the next New Treasure House will be "The Current State of 'Journey to the Center of the Earth' Translated Book Collection," similar to Vol. 77's "Lost World."

Please look forward to it.