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

Product Information

And I have to say that Hooper does a pretty good job in outdoing the bonkers quotient of the musical, which certainly is no mean feat. As well as the characters found in the book, Cats introduces several additional characters from Eliot's unpublished drafts, most notably Grizabella. S. Eliot’s beloved cat poems Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, containing beautiful original colour illustrations by Axel Scheffler. This is a charming book written in verse, and each chapter is dedicated to a different kind of cat with its own kind of personality. A few years ago I bought over 30 copies and (having annotated them) sent them out in lieu of Christmas cards.

I was very young and not a fan at poetry at all when I went to see it first and it wasn't until a friend told me recently that I even knew this book existed. The Old Man has many cats and refers to the poem "The Naming of Cats", explaining that each cat has three names: one common, one fancy and one that only the cat knows. He was also a very successful set and costume designer, earning a Tony Award for his Broadway production of Edward Gorey's Dracula.A stunning new gift edition of this much-loved classic, with the celebrated black-and-white illustrations by Edward Gorey. This book is a good way to introduce TS Eliot's poetry to young children as the illustrations make it more interesting and fun. Mistoffelees, Macavity, the Mystery Cat,Asparagus, Bustopher Jones, the man about town, and Skimbleshanks, the railway cat.

This version invariably has me singing along to the rhyme on the pastel coloured dust-jacket of this gorgeous hardcover copy, every time I pick it up:🐈 ‘Jellicle Cats come out to-night‘Jellicle Cats come one come all:The Jellicle Moon is shining bright ~Jellicles come to the Jellicle Ball. It is often thought of as a book for children and when you see a child getting tucked into bed or curling up on your knee and begging for a "cat poem" you'll see why children love it so much. It is a shame if grown-up readers aren't taken by the illustrations, but grown-ups can appreciate picture book treatments of old classics as well as the next child. Scheffler has produced a marvellous edition, fit to stand alongside the previous illustrated editions of the whole book, and it even compares favourably to the darker-hued Erol LeCain illustrations for five of the poems.

In 1954, English composer Alan Rawsthorne set six of the poems in a work for speaker and orchestra entitled Practical Cats, which was recorded soon afterwards, with the actor Robert Donat as the speaker. Eliot's poems are the source material for Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Cats which is what inspired me to pick this up. I am reminded of Fernando Pessoa's comment that within each of us, there are many voices, a community of spirits as it were.

A very good copy in a lightly toned and soiled jacket with slightly nicked and creased extremities and a couple of minor chips. In 2019, Webber’s musical was adapted in turn by Tom Hooper into a film by the same name staring James Corden, Judi Dench, Jason Derulo, Idris Elba, Jennifer Hudson, Ian McKellen, Taylor Swift. With classics such as Ted Hughes's The Iron Man and award-winners including Emma Carroll's Letters from the Lighthouse, Faber Children's Books brings you the best in picture books, young reads and classics. S. Eliot's classic and delightful collection of poetry about cats, with whimsical illustrations by Edward Gorey. Spine slightly toned, cloth a touch soiled, mild foxing throughout, text block strained in a couple of places but firm.First, I have been reading poetry the past few weeks and was browsing the library for a short, unusual work.