From 1938 through the 50s, author and children’s book illustrator Kathleen Hale (1898-2000) published a series of 19 books chronicling the adventures of a marmalade cat called Orlando, his wife Grace and their three kittens: Blanche, Pansy and Tinkle.

Her books enchanted generations of children and the family’s adventures were also adapted by Hale for six menu covers for the Orient shipping line. The illustrations showed the feline adventurers sailing to exotic locations on a boat called The Saucy Puss.

Born in Scotland, Hale spent most of her life in England and was determined to be an artist from a young age, despite a difficult childhood. Living in London in her 20s when it was a hub for artists, poets and writers, the bohemian Hale was befriended by the celebrated Welsh painter August John and sold her work to famous people like the English playwright and composer Noel Coward.

The unconventional artist created Marmalade and his little family as a response to the bland children’s books that were available at the time. ‘I got bored with reading Enid Blyton and Babar books to my little boys,’ she said in her autobiography.

Orlando was the stylish and adventurous father figure, Grace was the feminist and eccentric matriarch, and Tinker, the most mischievous of the kittens and a black cat who owns a pet spider, was modeled on Hale herself.

In Orlando Sails to the Tropics, this menu illustration shows how a monkey teaches Grace to dance in a grass skirt, the kittens feed a chameleon with mosquitoes, Elsie the hen makes friends with a parrot and Violet the cow chums up with a hippo, all while Orlando rests in a palm tree.

This menu illustration was created for the SS Orcades in 1953, an ocean liner primarily serving the UK – England and Australia route. There was a total of six illustrations – we have found two so far - and passengers no doubt kept them as souvenirs since they are so charming.

This remarkable female artist died at the age of 101. The Orient shipping line, a British company with roots going back to the 18th century, was merged with the P&0 shipping line in 1966.