Black Combo - Cat - Phaidon

This hardcover volume compiles over two centuries of visual material showing how one domestic animal has captured human attention across wildly different contexts. You'll find Egyptian devotional objects, Victorian-era printed illustrations, stills from animated films, runway photography, and memes side by side, organized to highlight recurring themes rather than strict chronology.

The book runs between 251 and 500 pages, each spread dominated by a single full-page image. Commentary accompanies the visuals but stays brief, allowing the photographs, paintings, and designs to carry the narrative. Hannah Shaw contributes a foreword, and Leïla Jarbouai provides an introduction that frames the editorial choices.

The cover shows a black cat curled in sleep against a dark background. Binding is sewn hardcover. Text is in English. Printed in the United Kingdom. The Phaidon Editors assembled the selection, drawing from museum collections, advertising archives, fashion houses, and online platforms to represent how representation of this animal has shifted and persisted.

Because the focus is visual rather than textual, the book works as much for browsing as for reading. Each double-page presents a new artifact—sometimes fine art, sometimes commercial design, sometimes vernacular photography—with enough variety to sustain interest across long sessions or quick dips. The juxtapositions reveal patterns: certain poses recur, certain associations follow cats from one culture to another, and certain eras treat the animal as sacred while others treat it as comic relief.

The editorial stance is inclusive rather than hierarchical. A Renaissance oil painting might face a 1950s cereal box. A Japanese woodblock print might precede a Paris runway look. The implicit argument is that popular affection for cats generates visual culture worth examining regardless of its original purpose or prestige.

You get reproductions large enough to study detail—the texture of fur in a photograph, the line work in an engraving, the styling choices in a fashion shoot. The paper stock supports color fidelity, and the layout avoids clutter. No image competes for space with dense paragraphs or overlapping graphics.

This edition targets people who either collect volumes about animals or who appreciate how a single subject can thread through disparate visual traditions. It sits flat when open, which matters for reference use. The binding is durable enough for repeated handling, and the cover material resists fingerprints better than glossy finishes.