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The Victorian Cat: A Classic Collection for Cat Lovers
Bringing together some of the most colorful passages of cat-lore written during Queen Victoria's reign, a gift book for feline aficionados includes works by Edgar Allen Poe, Lewis Carroll, Emily Dickinson, and Edward Lear.
64 pages, Hardcover
First published October 7, 1995
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 1, 2021
This is a delightful, very Victorian looking book, beautifully illustrated with plenty of interesting text from a variety of authors and it is perfect for those feline fanciers as well as the general reader.
My favourite in the book is Edward Lear's 'The Owl and the Pussycat' who 'were married next day/By the turkey who lives on the hill' and while on the literary front, John Tenniel's Cheshire Cat grins at the reader, or if you prefer, at Alice, from a branch high up in a tree. He is pointing Alice 'In that direction' where 'lives a Hatter; and in that direction, lives a March Hare. Visit either you like: they're both mad.' Of course Alice doesn't want to go to made people but the Cheshire Cat persists with '... we're all mad here. I'm made. You're mad.' When Alice asks how he knows sheis made he replies, 'You must be, or you wouldn't have come here.' Okay, fair enough!
Edgar Allan Poe writes about 'The Black Cat' who has 'an incarnate nightmare that I had no power to shake off' while Agnes Repplier writes of 'The Witch Cat' who eventually 'disappeared in a flash up the chimney'. And S Weir Mitchell MD tells of how people are affected by ailurophobia - the fear of cats - in different ways.
On lighter notes, there are a number of pleasant verses that are marked 'Anonymous', all of which have that Victorian feel about them and Helen Thayer Hutcheson writes charmingly of 'kitten and I' who are 'up in the hay-loft' where 'Kitten purrs and stretches and winks,/She doesn't speak, but I know what she thinks,/Never a king had a throne so high,/Never a bird a cosier nest;/There is much that is good, but we have the best -/Kitten and I.'
Heinrich Heine has a lovely eight-line, two verse poem entitled 'Firelight' which ends 'My mind is lapped in a realm of dreams' - quite un-Heine like in some ways! Philip Gilbert Hamerton in 'The Companionable Cat' knows exactly where he stands as his short essay ends '... why inquire too closely into the sincerity of her affection?' That's about right on occasions, however affectionate one's cat can be!
As the blurb on the back of the dust wrapper states, "Pour yourself a cup of tea [or coffee, I don't drink tea!], sit back, and let your troubles fade from memory while the genius of the Victorian cat beguiles you." What a great idea!
My favourite in the book is Edward Lear's 'The Owl and the Pussycat' who 'were married next day/By the turkey who lives on the hill' and while on the literary front, John Tenniel's Cheshire Cat grins at the reader, or if you prefer, at Alice, from a branch high up in a tree. He is pointing Alice 'In that direction' where 'lives a Hatter; and in that direction, lives a March Hare. Visit either you like: they're both mad.' Of course Alice doesn't want to go to made people but the Cheshire Cat persists with '... we're all mad here. I'm made. You're mad.' When Alice asks how he knows sheis made he replies, 'You must be, or you wouldn't have come here.' Okay, fair enough!
Edgar Allan Poe writes about 'The Black Cat' who has 'an incarnate nightmare that I had no power to shake off' while Agnes Repplier writes of 'The Witch Cat' who eventually 'disappeared in a flash up the chimney'. And S Weir Mitchell MD tells of how people are affected by ailurophobia - the fear of cats - in different ways.
On lighter notes, there are a number of pleasant verses that are marked 'Anonymous', all of which have that Victorian feel about them and Helen Thayer Hutcheson writes charmingly of 'kitten and I' who are 'up in the hay-loft' where 'Kitten purrs and stretches and winks,/She doesn't speak, but I know what she thinks,/Never a king had a throne so high,/Never a bird a cosier nest;/There is much that is good, but we have the best -/Kitten and I.'
Heinrich Heine has a lovely eight-line, two verse poem entitled 'Firelight' which ends 'My mind is lapped in a realm of dreams' - quite un-Heine like in some ways! Philip Gilbert Hamerton in 'The Companionable Cat' knows exactly where he stands as his short essay ends '... why inquire too closely into the sincerity of her affection?' That's about right on occasions, however affectionate one's cat can be!
As the blurb on the back of the dust wrapper states, "Pour yourself a cup of tea [or coffee, I don't drink tea!], sit back, and let your troubles fade from memory while the genius of the Victorian cat beguiles you." What a great idea!
October 8, 2017
A beautiful tea book, full of poetic biscuits with cat forms, in every shape. The fascination of the victorian era with cats is brought to us with its nice splendor. The illustrations are very nice, although I expected better quality.
May 23, 2024
So lovely and some really nice illustrations too.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews