Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats: with illustrations by Rebecca Ashdown: 1 (Faber Children's Classics)

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These poems are a treat to read. I was able without much effort to project them on to my cat. The poems also reminded me of my young far away granddaughters. I hope to take and read this little book to them on my next visit. In an audio recording made by the British Council in the spring of 1957, Eliot was asked if he would record his Practical Cats with them, as he had done ten years previously with Four Quartets. It was suggested that Cats might be easier to read than the Quartets, but Eliot disagreed, replying Eliot received many poetical responses to Practical Cats, including one from a Mrs Skinker who wrote him a letter in rhyme. Eliot, naturally, replied with his own rhyming letter: This little book, consists of 15 poems with the last one, "Cat Morgan Introduces Himself", added in 1952. The poems are short, rhythmical and rhymed. Eliot intended them for young children. They are delightful poetry in their own right with varied use of language and phrasing and poetic devices. Every cat has "THREE DIFFERENT NAMES" we are told in the first poem: its given name, its particular name, and the name the cat keeps to itself. Which of the three names does Eliot use in the poems which follow? The poems tells the stories of cats with names such as Jennyanndots, the old Gumbie cat, the ill-fated Growltiger and his lady Griddlebone, and the obstinate Rum Tum Tugger. Eliot says of Rum Tum Tugger

Pollicle Dogs and Jellicle Cats didn’t make the final book (it can be found in Volume 1 of The Complete Poems of T. S. Eliot) but Eliot followed it up with further poems written and sent on periodically to the Tandy and Faber families, Bonamy Dobree, and John Hayward. In December 1937 five of the Practical Cats were broadcast by the BBC on Christmas Day, with the poems read by broadcaster and scientist Geoffrey Tandy. The broadcast proved a great success with repeat broadcasts and two new sets of readings the following year, establishing an audience eager to see the poems in print. T. S. Eliot’s manuscript copy of ‘The Song of the Jellicles’urn:lcp:oldpossumsbookof00elio:epub:ce750471-10b8-4062-91a6-c4d29e169c5d Extramarc Princeton University Library Foldoutcount 0 Identifier oldpossumsbookof00elio Identifier-ark ark:/13960/t7mp5q81v Isbn 0151686564 urn:oclc:861379846 Scandate 20100430182846 Scanner scribe9.sanfrancisco.archive.org Scanningcenter sanfrancisco Worldcat (source edition)

Two intersecting paths brought me to read T.S. Eliot's whimsical 1939 book of poetry, "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats." First, I have been reading poetry the past few weeks and was browsing the library for a short, unusual work. Second, I adopted a pet cat -- a little calico -- some months ago after more that 15 years without one. I had almost forgotten how companionable a cat could be. The new kitty inspired my reading of a so-so book or two. Then, the poetry and the cat led me to T.S. Eliot. In his book of practical cats, Old Possum, (1888 -- 1965), a great modernist poet, let his hair down. Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 2010-04-07 15:27:31 Bookplateleaf 0008 Boxid IA116016 Boxid_2 CH129925 Camera Canon EOS 5D Mark II City San Diego Containerid_2 X0008 Donor En verso juguetón , irónico, fantasioso, paródico e ingenioso T.S. Eliot traza una descripción de felinos disque domésticos. Dicen que tal vez se referia a ciertos personajes de su tiempo, tal vez a nosotros mismos, y hasta que hacia referencias a las creaciones de Kipling y Conan Doyle. Y , sin duda, que le debe ahora el ser mucho más conocido al musical de Lloyd Weber.All of our upcoming public events and our St Pancras building tours are going ahead. Read our latest blog post about planned events for more information. public Wi-Fi - this extends to the majority of our public spaces including the Reading Rooms, as well as our study desks and galleries at St Pancras (you won't require a login) However once you start digging in to it you see so many more connections. Now ironically the copy I stumbled across was connected to the stage show however for me it were the cats which caught my attention. An embroidery made by a young T. S. Eliot hinted at things to come. The embroidery, made in 1894, shows a ribbon-collared cat ready to pounce on a ball of wool. It’s believed Eliot first put pen to paper with his cats in a 1931 letter to his young godson, Tom Faber, who had written to Eliot about his cat. ‘I am glad you have a Cat’ Eliot wrote, ‘but I do not believe it is So remarkable a cat as My cat. My Cat is a Lilliecat Hubvsouly… ITS NAME IS JELLYLORUM’. There followed further letters to Eliot’s godson introducing the Pollicle Dogs and Jellicle Cats, and the Practical Cat who can be seen trying out country life pursuits with Eliot in the drawings illustrating the letter. Between 1936 and 1938, poems were written and sent to friends and their children for comment, before their eventual inclusion in Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats. T. S. Eliot and the Practical Cat ‘go in for COUNTRY LIFE’ in a letter to Tom Faber, 7 May 1931

A algunos les causó extrañeza que Eliot, censurado por algunos poemas, escribiese algo para niños, pero , claro, un gato tiene más de un nombre. De hecho tiene tres: el que le dan y todos conocen, después uno peculiar que le da orgullo, y luego está aquel, el secreto, que solamente éste conoce...

This piece of musical theatre would take place in a broken down post-industrial dump.’ Cats by Andrew Lloyd Webber at the London Palladium in 2014. Photograph: Tristram Kenton/The Guardian there are so many famous names here and not just made famous from the likes of Elaine Paige but the fact that many of the names have now seeped in to common culture. Now how many stories for younger family members can claim that sort of heritage. Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats was published on 5th October 1939 in an edition of 3005 copies at 3/6d and proved early on to be popular with fans old and new. A month after publication, Eliot reported to John Hayward that Cats continued to give ‘”general satisfaction”, and have been selling upwards of 200 a week’, in contrast to The Idea of a Christian Society (published on 26 October) which was ‘not moving so rapidly’. The poems continue to be hugely popular with readers today. 1st edition of Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, published by Faber & Faber on 5 October 1939 Okay, I'm not the biggest fan of poems. However, you tell me there is a poem collection just about cats? Sign me up please! If cats, witchy or not, are your child’s thing don’t miss the new Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats. ’ The Times