Frolics in Catland

London: Raphael Tuck & Sons, Ltd., 1905. Onward, For Kitten and Country
Furry Fun For All

WAIN, Louis. Frolics in Catland. Father Tuck's "Travels in Fairyland" No. 9174. London: Raphael Tuck & Sons, Ltd., n.d. [c. 1905?].

First 'Untearable' edition. Oblong quarto (8 5/8 x 10 3/4 in; 220 x 273 mm). [28] pp. With eight full-page and numerous color text illustrations. Verses by Norman Gale.

Quarter red cloth over color pictorial paper glazed boards. Pictorial endpapers printed in blue and orange. Child's neat signature dated 1918 to ownership page. Inner hinges expertly strengthened. Some light wear to corners, (truncated) otherwise a remarkably good example of this rare title.

At the end of the nineteenth century, Louis Wain (1860-1939), the Edwardian cat artist who went mad, became a household name as an illustrator of cats, whom he depicted in all sorts of activities, from skating and playing cricket to driving motor cars, attending dances, and playing musical instruments. “He invented a cat style, a cat society, a whole cat world. English cats that do not look like Louis Wain cats are ashamed of themselves” (H.G. Wells).

“From 1883, Wain began to draw cats as they had never been drawn before, cats in humorous guises, in human situations, but always beautifully handled…[a]lthough he was sometimes forced to draw dogs before he became well-known!” (Houfe, The Dictionary of British Book Illustrators and Caricaturists 1800-1914).

Not in Dale. Unrecorded by Wood.

Contents: Conrad's Croquet; The Plucky Cricketer; [Two Cats Playing Tennis]; The Winner; [Two Cats Playing Golf]; Dairy Down Golf Club; Amelia Mlik; Augustus Purd; Tramping Ted; [Two Cats Rowing a Boat]; Camilla Clott; [Two Cats Picking Flowers]; Wooden Bricks; The Poor Bugler; [Two Cat Brass Band]; Jake; [Two Musical Cats]; Pippina Joy; Signor Whiskerando Kat; Velvina Fox; Devoted Dandy; {Two Cats Singing a Comical Duet]; Tomto; [Two Members of the Famous Band]; Fernand and Tarina Tab. (Inventory #: 04805)