Synopses & Reviews
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.
Synopsis
Victoriana and cats-it's a natural marriage. Celebrating the era when mousers, tabbies, and toms were swept off the farm and cherished with a passion unrivaled since ancient Egypt,
Parlor Cats is a dazzling collaboration from the creators of
A Victorian Scrapbook,
Forget-Me-Nots, Joy to the World: A Victorian Book of Love<,>
For the Love of Lace,
Nonsense and Common Sense,
We Wish You a Merry Christmas: A Victorian Caroling Kit, and the bestselling
Victoriana Calendar.
Originally adorning antique greeting cards and cut-out dolls, matchboxes and advertising trade cards, stationery and calendars, the endearing faces of Victorian cats live anew in Cynthia Hart's distinctive collages. Mixing paper ephemera from John Grossman's museum-quality Collection of Antique Images with fresh flowers, collectibles, lace and brocade, each lushly layered composition evokes a time that personified the cat as the epitome of domestic virtue.
Generously quoting from poetry, nursing rhymes, Godey's Lady's Book, and popular authors, Josephine Banks recounts the love affair between the Victorians and their cats. It's no accident that the cat is America's most popular pet-here is how it all got started. A selection of the Literary Guild. 126,000 copies in print.
About the Author
Cynthia Hart is a renowned designer and artist, and the owner/curator of
The Cynthia Hart Collection of Cherished Images. She is the author of
Cynthia Hart's Victoriana Calendar,
Cynthia Hart's Scrapbook Workshop,
The Love of Lace,
Parlor Cats, and other books. Her designs have been licensed to fragrance, gift, stationery, and home furnishing companies. Her studio is in New York City.
John Grossman is the owner/curator of the John Grossman Collection of Antique Images, with more than 50,000 pieces, and president of The Gifted Line™, a nationally known gift paper company. He is co-author of Nonsense and Common Sense, A Victorian Scrapbook, Forget-Me-Nots, Joy to the World, and We Wish You a Merry Christmas: A Victorian Caroling Kit.
Table of Contents
CONTENTS
HOME and HEARTH
THE GOLDEN AGE
PLAYFUL FRIENDS
NINE LIVES
Notes on the Ephemera