CATLAND: Feline Enchantment and the Making of the Modern Wor

If a Louis Wain cat were reading this book he would raise his topper in tribute’ The Times‘Excellent … Hughes reveals a fascinating forgotten aspect of late Victorian and Edwardian Britain: how the British fell in love with felines’ Daily MailSome called it a craze. To others it was a cult. Join prize-winning historian Kathryn Hughes to discover how Britain fell in love with cats and ushered in a new era.‘He invented a whole cat world’ declared H. G. Wells of Louis Wain the Edwardian artist whose anthropomorphic kittens made him a household name. His drawings were irresistible but Catland was more than the creation of one eccentric imagination. It was an attitude – a way of being in society while discreetly refusing to follow its rules.As cat capitalism boomed in the spectacular Edwardian age prized animals changed hands for hundreds of pounds and a new industry sprung up to cater for their every need. Cats were no longer basement-dwelling pest-controllers but stylish cultural subversives more likely to flaunt a magnificent ruff and a pedigree from Persia. Wherever you found old conventions breaking down there was a cat at the centre of the storm.Whether they were flying aeroplanes sipping champagne or arguing about politics Wain’s feline cast offered a sly take on the restless and risky culture of the post-Victorian world. No-one experienced these uncertainties more acutely than Wain himself confined to a mental asylum while creating his most iconic work. Catland is a fascinating and fabulous unravelling of our obsession with cats and the man dedicated to chronicling them.‘Hughes combines ingenuity insight and immense literary charm … A perfect gift for cat lovers art lovers and readers of all persuasions’ Elaine Showalter‘On Victorian and Edwardian terrain Hughes is near-omniscient … Through humour elegance and sheer knowledge Hughes builds something remarkable’ Literary Review‘An entertaining and often surprising cultural history … typically delivered in an inviting spirit of delight and [Hughes] is not above engaging in a little anthropomorphizing’ New Yorker