Cats of the wild

Cats of the Wild was published in 1971 by the Ward Ritchie Press, a firm historically regarded for its commitment to fine printing and book design. This work represents a niche entry in mid-century natural history literature, focusing on the biological traits and environmental habitats of various feline species. The publication emerged during a period of rising public interest in ecological conservation and the documentation of threatened wildlife, fitting into the aesthetic of 1970s non-fiction titles that balanced educational content with photographic or illustrated documentation.

Larry Harris approached this subject with the intention of creating an accessible yet comprehensive guide for the general reader. The design choices, typical of Ward Ritchie’s output, favored a clean, readable layout that emphasized the visual documentation of the animals. While it did not receive widespread critical acclaim in the literary mainstream, it remains a respected reference for collectors of zoological literature from that era, noted for its straightforward prose and the grounded perspective of its author regarding wild cat conservation.