(20th-Century Children's Books / Edwardian Juvenilia / Feline Illustration) WAIN, Louis. Somebody's Pussies.
London; Paris; New York: Raphael Tuck & Sons, Ltd., circa 1905. 4to - 9-7/8" x 7-5/8". [20] pp. printed on thick board pages. Original red cloth-backed color pictorial paper-covered boards. A superior, highly bright example of this scarce Edwardian juvenile milestone, establishing a verified FIRST EDITION of Louis Wain's beautifully realized anthropomorphic work. The production is constructed entirely as a thick board book designed to withstand nursery handling, featuring a front panel that displays a charming Wain illustration of two cats set within a decorative, picture frame-like border. The volume opens to a wonderful full-color illustration within an elaborate pussycat border to the front pastedown—with the "This Book Belongs To" box remaining entirely clean and unfilled—while the final page of text and artwork occupies the rear pastedown, similarly enclosed within an alternate elaborate feline border design. The text comprises an array of cat-centric stories and verses, sumptuously accompanied by thirteen full-page color drawings, further color drawings integrated within the text, and a unique decorative cat border framing every individual page.
The physical condition of the item is graded NEAR FINE (utilizing the standard antiquarian book grading scale for works on paper). The robust paper-covered boards remain exceptionally clean, displaying only minimal touches of rubbing to the board edges and light, superficial wear concentrated at the extreme board corners. The cloth spine is perfectly intact, with the black printed decoration and titles remaining sharp and dark. Internally, the heavy board leaves are remarkably clean, crisp, and entirely without flaw, showing no signs of the thumbing or marking typical of juvenile survivals from this period.
Louis Wain's Anthropomorphic Artistry and Raphael Tuck Production
By the early twentieth century, Louis Wain’s (1860–1939) distinctive style of cat illustration had fundamentally reshaped the depiction of domestic animals in popular culture. This collaboration with the premier publishing house Raphael Tuck & Sons showcases Wain's ability to imbue feline characters with complex human expressions, whimsy, and social dynamics. Unlike the flimsy paper toy books of the preceding century, this volume utilizes heavy board pages to create a premium, tactile object for young readers. Every single page layout reflects a total immersion into Wain's artistic universe, using custom borders filled with playful kittens to frame the typography, making it a definitive example of his commercial peak.
Series Bibliography, Census, and Market Scarcity
Fragile board books intended for young children suffered an incredibly high attrition rate, making well-preserved examples from the early twentieth century vanishingly scarce on the contemporary market. Due to the absence of a printed publication date within the text, institutional dating remains varied; notably, the Princeton University Library catalogs their specimen as circa "[between 1901 and 1910]," while an alternate institutional copy bears a later contemporary owner's inscription dated 12/25/1926. A current global sweep of the OCLC/WorldCat database locates only 2 specimens preserved in institutional special collections worldwide: specifically held at North Carolina State University and the Princeton University Library. The appearance of an un-marked copy in a condition approaching original issue represents an extraordinary rarity for private collectors and institutional curators alike.
THIS EXCEEDINGLY RARE CIRCA 1905 FIRST EDITION BOARD BOOK, ILLUSTRATED THROUGHOUT BY LOUIS WAIN, REPRESENTS A CRITICAL ACQUISITION FOR INSTITUTIONAL SPECIAL COLLECTIONS OR EXTRAORDINARY PRIVATE COLLECTIONS DEVOTED TO THE HISTORY OF ANTHROPOMORPHIC ART, TWENTIETH-CENTURY CHILDREN'S LITERATURE, OR THE BIBLIOGRAPHY OF LOUIS WAIN.
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