Fossil collecting had been in vogue in…

Fossil collecting had been in vogue in the late eighteenth century and early nneteenth century, at first as a pastime akin to stamp collecting.

It is gradually transforming into a science as the importance of fossils to geology and biology becomes understood.

Mary Anning of Lyme Regis caters to the commercial side of the field, selling her finds.

She had soon forged relationships within the scientific community, whose passion for fossils has grown to be a major source of income for her.

The cause of this connection had been one of Anning's first discoveries, the skeleton of an ichthyosaur, in 1811.

Her next major discovery had been a real first, the first-ever skeleton of a plesiosaur in 1821.

In 1828, she discovers an important fossil of a pterosaur, the first found outside Germany and thought to be the first complete skeleton.

Though these three finds are what make her mark on history, Anning is to continue collecting for the remainder of her life, making numerous other contributions to early paleontology.