It’s been a hectic week here! The website was down for maintenance this weekend, I’ve been finishing up a bunch of Myrtle-adjacent work projects (Exciting Things are Afoot!), getting ready for houseguests, and feeling like I’m running around in a bit of a fog. Seeing everything going on out in the real world, I’m guessing a lot of you feel the same.
So. This is a good time to just look at pictures of cats.
Believe it or not, this is not a novelty of the Internet Age. Like so many other things we’ve talked about on the blog, it’s a 19th century invention, too! As long as we’ve had photography, people have been taking pictures of their cats.
You’ll have probably deduced from previous posts that a cat figures prominently in the Myrtle Hardcastle Mysteries. During Premeditated Myrtle, Myrtle forges a relationship with a talkative new friend, and that got me interested in our first category of pictures (my favorite). I was delighted to discover that this is a bond that transcends time, and how it shines through in these wonderful images.
Enjoy this collection of 19th and early 20th century Unashamed Felinity:
Girls with Their Cats:
Some photography studios employed staff cats to pose with their clients. This pair is almost too cute.
Like today, this was a worldwide sensation:
Gratuitous shot of your Learned Author, circa 1979. (Somehow I am the only person in this photograph not holding cat.)
Not to be outdone, here are some Boys with their Cats:
The ever-popular Cats in Silly Costumes:
File this one under “made something, put it on my cat; cat is unimpressed.”
Excuse me, sir, that’s a B, not a D.
Activist Cats:
You would never go to the suffrage rally bare-headed.
Judgmental Cats:
by well-known Brighton cat photographer Harry Pointer
Cats at Work:
That must be the Staff Mouser there in the center
Very Posh Cats
Crazy Cat Ladies
Call her crazy. I dare ya.
Man’s Best Friends
Inter-species Friendships
1889, Henry Stevens “The Good Companions”
And this Chicken. Because.
Enjoy this? There’s loads more where these came from! Follow my “Victorian Cats” Pinterest board for all sorts of wonderful period images of people and their pets–and not just cats. We have Victorian dogs, birds, a horse or two, even an alligator….
You’re welcome.
Peony the Cat by Brett Helquist from How to Get Away with Myrtle
And Peony’s real-life namesake, Sophie
(Pssst–Premeditated Myrtle and How to Get Away with Myrtle, featuring Peony the Cat, will be here October 6. It’s not too late to pre-order or get your library holds in!)
Love this post! 🙂