Proof LOLCats Existed in the 1870s

You may think our obsession with cute cats in funny pictures is new. Well you'd be wrong. Harry Pointer, a British photographer from the 1870s was actually the first recorded photographer to pose his cats in all sorts of hilarious positions. Even better, he realized he could meme-ify the pictures by adding silly written phrases to his prints. Here’s a sampling of the modern day lolcats’ ancestors cheesing it up in the 19th century.

Explains vintage photography site Sussex PhotoHistory of his method:

Pointer often arranged his cats in unusual poses that mimicked human activities - a cat riding a tricycle, cats roller-skating and even a cat taking a photograph with a camera. Harry Pointer soon realised that even a relatively straight-forward cat photograph could be turned into an amusing or appealing image by adding a written caption. Pointer increased the commercial potential of his cat pictures by adding a written greeting such as "A Happy New Year" or "Very many happy returns of the day."

Photo History Sussex via Retronaut