 First edition cover | |
| Author | T. S. Eliot |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Light poetry |
Publication date | 5 October 1939[1] |
| Media type | |
Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats (1939) is a collection of whimsical light poems by T. S. Eliot about feline psychology and sociology, published by Faber and Faber. It serves as the basis for Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1981 musical Cats.
Eliot wrote the poems in the 1930s and included them, under his assumed name "Old Possum", in letters to his godchildren. Eliot tried to persuade the poet Ralph Hodgson to illustrate the poems but failed.[2] They were collected and published in 1939, with cover illustrations by the author, and quickly re-published in 1940, illustrated in full by Nicolas Bentley. They have also been published in versions illustrated by Edward Gorey (1982), Axel Scheffler (2009) and Rebecca Ashdown (2014).[3]
- ^ Hart, Henry (2012). "T. S. Eliot's Autobiographical Cats". The Sewanee Review. 120 (3): 379–381. ISSN 0037-3052.
- ^ Harding, John, Dreaming of Babylon. The Life and Times of Ralph Hodgson. (Greenwich Exchange 2008) https://greenex.co.uk/
- ^ "Old Possum's book of practical cats". WorldCat. OCLC 978264444.