The Cat in the Picture

This little book is a companion to our first book The Dog in the Picture, in which we selected illustrations from several hundred vintage pictures in our collection and matched them to quotes from old letters and diaries that tell a similar tale. Cat people often write of the cat's virtues, their grace or their playfulness. Mark Twain wrote about one of the kittens in his cat Tammany's latest litter, who liked "to be crammed into a corner-pocket of the billiard table - which he fits in as snugly as does a finger in a glove and then he...spoils many a shot by putting out his paw and changing the direction of a passing ball." While we found some differences in people's records of their cats and their dogs, we found similarities more important. A companion animal in the picture, whether cat or dog, reveals a good deal about people and history. The detachment of long-ago faces that stiffly stare back at us in yellowed snapshots dissolves when there is a cat in the picture.