Displayed on the following pages is my personal collection of "Mainzer Dressed Cats" postcard images. Also shown are the "Dressed Mice," "Dressed Dogs" and "Dressed Hedgehogs" images, for a total of 248 cards at present.These cards, known as the Humorous Dressed Cats postcards or Mainzer Dressed Cats postcards, were originally published from the 1940's through the 1960's by Alfred Mainzer Inc. in New York City, known worldwide for their postcards and greeting cards. The Mainzer company was founded by brothers Renate and Alfred Mainzer, who started the business in their New York City home in 1938. The early postcards had a rough finish, brilliant colors, and scalloped ("deckled") edges. The cards were printed in Switzerland, Belgium, Turkey, Thailand, and Spain. An additional series of Mainzer dressed cats were published as the "Kunzli edition" - these appear to be set in older European environments, and are typically not as brightly colored as the American editions. Mainzer also did a smaller series of "dressed dogs," "dressed mice," and "dressed hedgehogs."
The artist was Eugen Hartung (or Hurtong), who lived from 1897-1973. His signature logo was a little heart with a loop or “tongue”
in the center. That symbol should appear in one of the bottom corners on the front of the postcards, though there are a few occasions when it was cut off during the printing process. The Kunzli postcards will show "Copyright Max Kunzli, Zurich 6/35" or "Edition Max Künzli, Zurich 6" imprinted on the back either with or without an “Alfred Mainzer, Inc.” address. Some of the Mainzer and Kunzli postcards will show where they were printed. Most of them will be numbered.
The charm of these anthropomorphic cats postcards is not just in the fact that the cats are in everyday "people" situations, but in the amount of detail in each picture - note the pickpocket on the train, for example, or the fact that most of the "better dressed" female cats have poodles as pets.
The Alfred Mainzer Company still exists, doing much more reproduction work than postcards. Around 2005, the company had 100 of the postcards reprinted as a "collector edition." In 2009, the majority of the postcards were burned in a fire, and all of the remaining stock was sold out by the end of that year.
Click on any category below to begin your journey!
If you've been here before, click on INDEX and pick the page(s) you haven't visited yet.
If you're a collector, visit the INDEX for postcard numbers and thumbnail images.
Enjoy the pictures; but what you see here, let it stay here.
(Do not copy or direct-link to these images.)
Images © Alfred Mainzer, Inc.; permission for this display was obtained from Alfred Mainzer, Inc.
Web display and arrangement © 1998-2010 Glenda Moore
New images added January/February 2010
