(Pittsburgh 1928–1987 New York) “25 Cats name(d) Sam and one Blue Pussy”, approx. 1954, signed Andy Warhol, the complete book with 18 hand-coloured offset lithographs including cover with dedication, watercolour and offset lithographs on paper, numbered 50/190, signature on the colophon, 23.5 x 15.5 cm, printed by Seymour Berlin, Feldman/Schellmann no. IV 52A-68A, (PS)

The bound book “25 Cats name(d) Sam and one Blue Pussy” was executed in 1954 and intended to be published as an edition of 190 in offset print by Seymour Berlin, but it is assumed that fewer than 150 copies were produced. Charles Lisanby is named on the colophon as the author of the text-free book, and Andy Warhol’s mother worked on the book project as the calligrapher. She is the origin of the mistake with the missing “d” in the title which Warhol did not correct, instead welcoming accidental imperfections in his works which normally were the result of the techniques he used. It was the Warhol’s own cat which gave rise to the book. Julia Warhola had called all her cats Sam and only one Hester. However, Warhol took photographs from the New York Public Library as models for the lithographs rather than the family cats. He executed them using his own blotted line technique with which he had experimented during his final semesters at the Carnegie Institute. Years later he said, “I always wanted to find out how my drawings would look when printed”. Every copy of the book was individually coloured by Warhol and his friends, and the number of coloured sheets varied from book to book. Andy Warhol gave most of the books, numbered and with a personal dedication, to friends and customers. Other books were commissioned by influential Americans as presents for friends.

It is a particularity of the book here that all the sheets are coloured.