Cats’ Lives (Vol IX)

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Creator

ANONYMOUS

Title

Cats’ Lives (Vol IX)

Coverage

London

Publisher

Thomas Woodward

Date

1742

Subject

First imaged on the jib door of Charles Dickens’
library at Gad’s Hill.

Description

A series of detailed biographies of famous men who, in their
private lives, also happened to be cat fanciers.
Dickens’ imaginary books were intended to be represented
by their fake spines (“imitation backs of books”)1 both on the
concealed door and on a case of fake shelves in the study. This
volume represents one of the book-spines that Dickens asked
Mr. Eeles to display on the concealed door. He particularly
specified that he wanted the most famous title, the large set (10
volumes) of Catalogue of Statues to the Duke of Wellington, to be
located on the bottom shelf of the faux bookcase.