The Retronaut Guide to Keeping Pets

The highly successful Retronaut blog looks at the past as it has never been looked at before. Here, in the first of a new series of Retronaut books, the site's founder, Chris Wild, brings together an astonishing and thought-provoking collection of photographs from the hidden and forgotten corners of the archives. Often witty and entertaining, but also thought-provoking and at times puzzling, the images are chosen to shift our perceptions of history, making us think and look again. Starting with a crowd-pleasingly humourous selection, The Retronaut Book of Fluffy Kittens...and Other Dangerous Animals is certain to raise a smile when you discover how the Victorians liked to dress up their animals, and how people thought it amusing to picnic with crocodiles. Designed to appeal to anyone who likes animals, and above all, anyone who enjoys laughing at cats on the internet.

Chris Wild spent several years in arts management and education before starting up his first blog. Discovering a rare archive of coloured photographs of 1900s Paris gave him the inspiration to start Retronaut in 2009, with the specific aim of finding images that made you look at the past differently. The response to his curation was overwhelming, with his site reaching 1 million subscribers in three years. In August 2014 the site was licensed to Mashable, in just a few months becoming Mashable's most shared content. Chris is now in the process of curating a touring Retronaut exhibition, as well as starting up a Retronaut YouTube channel.