THE CAT COLLECTION

This is indeed a collection, of quotations and cats, the latter of whom Delessert has clearly loved and studied. In his signature style, the bevy of beasts are presented close-up, dramatically placed; they are occasionally idealized to a few basic geometries or delineated to a glossy, hyper-real finish. Each page of text faces a cat, or now and then, shares a page with one. The variety of authors behind the very short quotations ranges widely, from Christopher Smart to Pablo Neruda, from Jean de La Fontaine to Ogden Nash. The cats portrayed usually have names, too: from the Egyptian cat goddess, Bast, to Snarf, a cat of the artist’s; from StÇphane MallarmÇ’s Snow, to Puss-in-boots. Children will find the epigrams intriguing, as in Annette Wynne’s “The house cat sits/And smiles and sings./He knows a lot/Of secret things.” The images are mysterious but accessible, unsettling and endearing—just like most cats. (Anthology. 7-12)