In 1853, a high-profile London dinner party was held inside a life-sized mold of an iguanodon.

Research:

Cain, Joe. “New Year’s Eve Dinner in the Iguanodon at Crystal Palace 31 December 1853.” https://profjoecain.net/dinner-iguanodon-crystal-palace-dinosaurs/
Cain, Joe. “Top Questions About New Year’s Eve Dinner in Iguanodon at Crystal Palace.” https://profjoecain.net/top-questions-about-new-years-eve-dinner-iguanodon-crystal-palace-mould-sculpture/
Carlson, Laura. “Episode 5: A Victorian Dinosaur Dinner.” The Feast. https://www.thefeastpodcast.org/episode-5-a-victorian-dinosaur-dinner
Friends of the Crystal Palace Dinosaurs. “Dinner in the Iguanodon.” 7/21/2013. https://cpdinosaurs.org/blog/post/dinner-in-the-iguanodon
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Routledge & Co., publishers. “Routledge's guide to the Crystal Palace and park at Sydenham.” Crystal Palace. 1854. https://archive.org/details/routledgesguidet00grou/
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Hawkins, B. Waterhouse. “On Visual Education, As Applied to Geology.” Journal of the Society of Arts. Vol. II No. 78. 5/19/1854.
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Peck, Robert McCracken. "The art of bones: British artist Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins, who sparked dinosaur mania in the nineteenth century, still influences how natural history museums represent prehistoric life today." Natural History, vol. 117, no. 10, Dec. 2008, pp. 24+. Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A189832561/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=f6c80589. Accessed 5 Dec. 2025.
Phillips, Samuel. “Guide to the Crystal Palace and Park.” Crystal Palace Library. 1854. https://archive.org/details/guidetocrystalpa00phil_0
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New Year’s Eve Iguanodon Party

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