A 19th-Century Cat Nap

People have enjoyed cute cat photos long before the advent of the internet, as seen in these photos of sleepy kittens from the August 1897 issue of The Inland Printer.

When you are all about printing, it pays to have a well-designed cover: The Inland Printer was possibly the first magazine in America to change its cover on each issue, and it remains a landmark journal in documenting the American printing industry during its heyday. 

Find several digitized issues of The Inland Printer in Smithsonian Libraries and Archives’ digital library, including volume 56—the source of these covers. And check out some “artful cats” in the Smithsonian’s collection.