A friend and I had an interesting discussion yesterday regarding what constitutes a pet. For the most part, I don't think of my turtle as being the focus of those rental agreements that say "no pets". Pets are usually, and overwhelmingly, dogs and cats with maybe a hamster, guinea pig or gerbil for the younger people. Possibly a rabbit. My friend has an aquarium full of fish. She doesn't really think of them as pets, but more of a collection. Otherwise she'd be saying "I have 21 pet tropical fish" which sounds silly. We decided that a pet involves a degree of interaction between human and animal. The fish mostly interact with each other and my turtle at the moment is not interacting at all until he emerges from hibernation.
Anyway, for pets on stamps I have been looking forward to sharing a few from a 1963/4 series of dogs and cats.
above we have a Poodle, a Bulldog and an Airedale
and below a Persian, Siamese and European
and my favourite...
These are all the works of Polish illustrator Janusz Grabiańsk (1929-1976).
If you are not familiar, look at his luscious illustrations for children's books.
These are great!
ReplyDeleteLiz
glad you like!
DeleteA pet...kept for amusement or companionship. I don't think turtles and fish qualify as I don't find either one amusing or very good company. The cat stamps are lovely.
ReplyDeleteMy turtle can be amusing, in his own understated way. He has quite a balancing act with his poses when he's basking!
DeleteThese are all great pets I think.
ReplyDeleteI have these Polish cat stamps too, but not the dog ones...ahh, you are lucky to have them both!
ReplyDeletebtw, I agree, that last kitty is just hilarious!
there are a couple of dogs I saved in case the theme comes up again :)
DeleteThose are great, especially the last one.
ReplyDeletethat cat makes me laugh every time I see it!
DeleteI think I may have seen his other illustrations - such a familiar style.
ReplyDeletethank you for participating!
he was quite prolific with his children's books illustrations. I think I'd seen them before, too, without knowing who he was.
DeleteI think the one at the bottom will definitely be my favorite too. Glad to see kitten stamps here on your page in addition to the dog stamps, which most of us posted for the Sunday Stamps theme this week.
ReplyDeleteI guess dogs are the favourite of this group!
DeleteI have the three dos. The Airedale is my favourite because that is the first dog I remember as a small boy.
ReplyDeletegood enough reason!
DeleteA lovely selection, especially the last one! I'm a cat person too :)
ReplyDeletewhew, finally a kindred spirit :)
DeleteI do like Airedales, I think its the combination of ears and woolly legs. Grabiańsk has captured the cats eyes so well and the last one is so funny and true.
ReplyDeleteGreta discussion! I'm not especially a cat lover, but I'd make an exception for the last one...
ReplyDeletethat's funny that you'd pick the crazy cat!
DeleteWithout a doubt, the crazy cat is my favourite of these.
ReplyDeleteI consider my walking sticks as pets, too :-) (I really mean it!).
ReplyDeleteAnd since we've guinea pigs in our house I prefer vegetarian pets, as cats and dogs are far too dangerous for our gp's - see the three cat's eyes, ready to attack!...
The Airedale stamp I love most, because it reminds me of my childhood, We only had guppys at home, then, but sometimes I walked the dog of an old neighbour. That dog was called Mickey, a friendly Welsh terrier. And the Welsh terrier to me seems a kind of small edition of the Airedale terrier :-) .
Strange, when I see your Airedale stamp, I also see our former neighbourhood before me. Which I have left decades ago - and in which there wasn't any Airedale terrier around, only Mickey. How a stamp can bring back good memories...
Thank you for sharing!
It took me a moment to understand the "walking sticks"!!
DeleteWhat a great story - who knew stamps could be so memorable?!