Eliot (T.S.) Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats

London, Faber & Faber, 1939.

First edition, first impression. Large 8vo. Original yellow pictorial boards. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 3/6.

The first edition of Eliot’s famous whimsical poems featuring feline protagonists – famously of course the inspiration and source for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical, Cats. Eliot wrote the poems in the 1930s, and included them, under his assumed name “Old Possum”, in letters to his godchildren. The illustrations in this edition were by the author himself, with subsequent editions illustrated by such luminaries as Nicolas Bentley, Edward Gorey and, most recently, Axel Scheffler of Gruffalo fame.