Louis Wain

Frolics in Fairyland, illustrated fairy tales reimagined with cats, by Louis Wain.

• Louis Wain (English).
• New York / London / Paris: Raphael Tuck & Sons, Co. LTD, [circa 1905].
• 12 pages.
• Illustrated by Wain with 12 full-page color plates and 2 full-page line illustrations, in addition to pictorial wrappers.
• Original stiff pictorial card wrappers.

"Then there rose, not a Beast, but a real Persian Cat."

Rare Wain production, in which characters from classic fairy tales are re-imagined as his characteristically eccentric and expressive cats.

Known as "The Edwardian Cat Artist That Went Mad," Wain was once "the most famous cat artist on earth" (Haining). His work in conceiving an entire Catland inspired the creators of Felix the Cat and even Mickey Mouse; Haining notes that Wain also "played a major part in making the cat the most popular of all domestic pets." Included here are scenes from fairy tales and other well-known stories: Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, Robin Hood, Bluebeard, Sindbad the Sailor, Robinson Crusoe, Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp, The Forty Thieves, Jack the Giant Killer, Beauty and the Beast, The Babes in the Wood, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty, each with Wain's unique cats managing to appear simultaneously charming and bizarre.