A VICTORIAN CELEBRATION PARLOR CATS As with the Queen, so with the Empire: when Victoria revealed a love for cats, her people elevated their tabby mousers to a position unrivaled since ancient Egypt. Celebrating that great era of ailurophilia are Cynthia Hart and John Grossman, the arbiters of Victoriana whose books include A Victorian Scrapbook, Joy to the World, and Forget-Me-Nots, as well as the best-selling Victoriana Calendar. Peeking out from lushly layered collages, here are endearing Victorian cats drawn from a museum-quality collection of antique paper ephemera and surrounded by the spirited tale of a feline renaissance that spread from Buckingham Palace to the parlors of Boston. Generously quoting poetry, nursery rhymes, Godey's Lady's Book, and popular authors such as Edward Lear and Rudyard Kipling, each precious page of PARLOR CATS evokes in image and word an age that personified the cat as the epitome of domestic virtue. CYNTHIA HART runs a studio in New York City specializing in product design and photo art direction. JOHN GROSSMAN is owner/curator of the John Grossman Collection of Antique Images, with more than 50,000 pieces. He is also president of The Gifted Line, a nationally known gift paper company. JOSEPHINE BANKS is an art historian and animal behavior expert.
She is the author of six books, including You Can Train Your Cat.