Offset lithograph, circa 1954, on wove paper, with the Estate of Andy Warhol and the Warhol Foundation ink stamps on the reverse, 49.1 x 34.2 cm. (19¼ x 13½ in.) From the '25 Cats Name[d] Sam and One Blue Pussy' series.

25 cats name[d] Sam, and One Blue Pussy, circa 1954, was one of Warhol’s first illustrated bound books. Produced with Seymour Berlin of Record Offset Corporation in New York, and written by Charles Lionsby, Warhol illustrated 25 cats name[d] Sam, and One Blue Pussy with sixteen drawings of cats, each named Sam, and a seventeenth captioned ‘One Blue Pussy’. The blotted lines effortlessly articulate the fur coats and expressive faces of Sam and the one blue pussy.
Warhol created his bound books to promote his commercial illustration and sent them to clients. One such recipient, Diana Vreeland, then fashion editor for Harper’s Bazaar and later Vogue, found her copy of Warhol’s 25 cats name[d] Sam, and one blue pussy, to be ‘Charming!’