JUNE 2021 Volume 1 No. 12 FEATURE BREED THE SCOTTISH FOLD
FEATURES: LONGHAIR – CH. AYRSHIRE RONALD
THE CFA FOUNDATION – PRESERVING FELINE HISTORY
SHORTHAIR – CH. XENOPHON
THE ROYAL FAMILY CAT BREEDER –
GENETICS – MANAGING ATTRIBUTES
H.R.H. PRINCESS VICTORIA OF SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN
INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE FOR LINECHASERS & FANCIERS OF FELINE HISTORY
“Today’s achievements are part of tomorrow’s history”
HARRISON WEIR COLLECTION © A-Cat-Emy Concepts
PUBLISHED BY A-CAT-EMY CONCEPTS for THE HARRISON WEIR COLLECTION EDITOR
John G. Smithson editor@felishistorica.com HISTORY PARTNERS The CFA Foundation COLUMNISTS & CONTRIBUTORS
Karen Lawrence (St. Catharines, Canada)
Lorraine Shelton (California, USA)
VOLUME 1 NUMBER 12
EDITORIAL The Editor outlines issues covered in Issue 12 of Felis Historica!
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CONTRIBUTING TEAM MEMBERS Gallery of our Team of Columnists, Contributors & Correspondents
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CHAMPION AYRSHIRE RONALD (1898) - by John G. Smithson A late 19th Century Blue Persian Champion, based in Scotland!
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THE FELINE HISTORICAL MUSEUM – Part One - by Karen Lawrence Establishment of the CFA Foundation, Inc.
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EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT GENETICS YOU CAN LEARN FROM YOUR CAT! PART 12 - by Dr. Leslie Lyons The Slippery Slope – Managing Genetic Attributes in Cat Breeds
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A GALLERY OF SCOTTISH FOLDS
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Dr. Leslie Lyons (Missouri, USA)
JUNE 2021
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Chloe Chung (Hong Kong)
Laura Vocelle (Muscat, Oman)
CHAMPION XENOPHON (1892) – by John G. Smithson The phenomenally successful 19th Century English Shorthair Champion 56 THE DESCENDANTS OF BASTET – by Karen Lawrence. Book release info.
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THE CHINESE LOP or alternative fold-eared cats? From the archives of The Harrison Weir Collection
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CAT POEMS and OTHER FANCIES / & TEN CATS – by Graham Harrop
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Jamie Christian
A PERSIAN RHAPSODY IN BLUE – by John Smithson. Book release info.
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(Ohio, USA)
HRH PRINCESS VICTORIA OF SCHLESWIG HOLSTEIN – by John Smithson A glimpse into the life of a British Royal as a breeder of cats!
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Dr. Victor Zaalov (Acre, Israel)
Valerie Sheldrake Feline Historian (Suffolk, UK)
PHOTOGRAPHY & GRAPHICS
Helmi & Ken Flick (Florida, USA)
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Jack Terry (Florida, USA)
CONTENT All Rights Reserved © A-Cat-Emy Concepts SUBSCRIPTIONS Published Monthly Single Issue $4.00 USD ANNUAL $48.00 USD
CELEBRATING MODERN DAY LEADING CATS – Long-hair Breed Type – Black Tortie Silver Scottish Fold Longhair CFA GC, DW LANNA SKY SELFIE Short-hair Breed Type – Blue British Shorthair CFA GC, NW KITTIES LAND MAIN EVENT
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Editorial ’FELIS HISTORICA’ JOHN G. SMITHSON EDITOR
OUR COVER CAT Black Tortie Silver Scottish Fold Longhair ‘GC, DW Lanna Sky Selfie’ Bred by Karnkawee Srimongkol Chiang Mai, Thailand. Sire: ‘Kindlycats Desert’ Dam: ‘Ch. Sundemorning Ellie of Lanna Sky’ Photo: by Amy Works
COPYRIGHT ISSN: 2744-4430 National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa © A-CAT-EMY CONCEPTS / FELIS HISTORICA THE HARRISON WEIR COLLECTION No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, screen capture, or otherwise, without prior written permission. No responsibility is accepted for accuracy of advertisements or information. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED www.felis-historica.com www.harrisonweir.com
Our June edition represents a significant milestone for this emagazine, focused on feline history and feline related topics of interest to cat lovers and cat breeders. With this edition we celebrate the successful completion of our first full year! Our feature this month, is the Scottish Fold, both Shorthaired and Longhaired, the Longhair known in some registries as the Highland Fold. We wish to thank both the ‘Lanna Sky’, and ‘Sundemorning’ catteries for generously sharing the equisite photos of their cats and we feature on the cover of this issue, the Longhair fold GC, DW Lanna Sky Selfie – who in her show career gained the singular distinction being CFA’s Best Kitten, in Thailand for the 2018-2019 show year. Also in this issue, Dr Leslie Lyons delicately introduces the subject of how breeders must face and manage the issues of genetic attributes in cats, some more serious than others – but she does so offering hope and encouraging breeders to test where they can, do that any possible negatives that might affect the health and well-being of our precious cats, might be otherwise greatly reduced, and in some cases mitigated. This issue is, and always will be at the heart of the ethics of breeding, and is a topic that needs to be reviewed regularly. Karen Lawrence gives us the first of a two-part article on the establishment of the Feline Historical Museum and an overview of some of the precious content it contains. Folk are usually unaware when they donate to the Museum, that there are considerable costs associated with housing, cataloguing and preserving these items so that they are made available to our feline historians, both present and future! Those costs and how YOU may help us to preserve this important heritage will be covered in more depth in Part Two. In the upcoming month of July, the Cat Fancy reaches a significant milestone in its history. On July 13th and 14th, it will July
JUNE 2021
IN CELEBRATION OF
SCOTTISH FOLDS
be exactly 150 years since the very first organised Cat Show was mounted at the Sydenham ‘Crystal Palace’ venue, the brainchild of ‘The Father of the Cat Fancy’ – Harrison Weir. It was also brought to fruition by the organising genius of Mr. Fred Wilson, who, as head of the Natural History Department of the Crystal Palace Company, was charged with its practical organisation. Registries around the world will celebrate this momentous occasion in different ways, with the GCCF in the process of producing a Video to mark the event, while history exhibitions will be mounted by various clubs and individuals around the globe during the month of July, at shows – despite the difficulties experienced globally by the Covid-19 pandemic! Our May issue featured the celebration Memorial Bowl presented to Harrison Weir in 1901 to celebrate the 30 th anniversary of this same event, and in our July issue we will return to the topic with articles about the first cat shows between July and December of 1871. In addition, there are two new celebratory book releases, one on the Abyssinian cat, by Karen Lawrence entitled ‘The Descendants of Bastet’ and one by your editor on the Blue Persian cat, entitled ‘A Persian Rhapsody In Blue’. So – be sure that you encourage others to subscribe to Felis Historica!
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Enjoy!
John EDITOR Photos courtesy of Lanna Sky Cattery & Tiny House