An Abyssinian cat, ‘the goddess Bastet in person’; Sylvester; a cat bounding away from Gabriel in Lorenzo Lotto’s Annunciation (1527); Raymond Chandler with his black cat; paintings by Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen... Frédéric Vitoux’s book is a beguiling cabinet of curiosities for the literary and artistically inclined cat-lover: he reflects on different breeds; books and films in which cats play essential roles; writers’ cats; works of art; and a true miscellany of topics including Zen, the Chat Noir and the cats of Venice.