Back cover synopsis:
"After many years of searching, artist James Gurney has discovered in a used bookstore a never-before-seen journal by the nineteenth-century explorer Arthur Denison. Denison's previous travel accounts, published as Dinotopia: A Land Apart from Time and Dinotopia: The World Beneath, introduced a lost island where dinosaurs and humans live together in peaceful interdependence.
Now Professor Denison and his saurian companion, Bix, set out on a perilous journey to the forbidden empire of Chandara. When their personal invitation from the emperor goes missing, they are forced to cross the border penniless and in disguise. Every step of the way, Denison documents in exquisite detail the creatures, characters, and architecture he encounters: a village composed of three ships propped up on end, a fifty-foot-tall Brachiosaurus outfitted for fire fighting, an Allosaurus tending its hatchlings, young pilots air jousting on giant pterosaurs, and much more.
The land of Dinotopia is conjured by a brief but vivid narrative and a beguiling variety of visuals, including maps, cutaway views, and mechanical diagrams. The lives of the humans are intertwined with those of the dinosaurs and ancient mammals, all of which are actual species portrayed according to the latest scientific research. By turns whimsical, dramatic, and philosophical, the journal radiates a life-affirming vision that will cast a new light on the overlooked wonders of our own world."
"James Gurney is the author and illustrator of the New York Times best-selling Dinotopia book series, which has been translated into eighteen languages in thirty-two countries. He designed the World of Dinosaurs commemorative stamps for the United States Postal Service and has worked on assignment for National Geographic magazine, painting reconstructions of Moche, Kushite, and Etruscan civilizations. His unique blending of fact and fantasy has won Hugo, Chesley, Spectrum, and World Fantasy Awards. An exhibition of the artwork from Dinotopia began at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., and most recently appeared at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Gurney lives with his wife in the Hudson River Valley of New York State."