Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats was published by Faber and Faber in October 1939, just weeks after the outbreak of World War II. It is T.S. Eliot’s most popular work — vastly outselling The Waste Land and Four Quartets — and his most unexpected: a collection of whimsical verse about cats, written by the poet who had defined modernist difficulty, in a voice so light and playful that readers who knew Eliot only from “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” could hardly believe it was the same author.
The Poems
“Old Possum” was Ezra Pound’s nickname for Eliot — a reference to the younger poet’s habit of “playing possum,” concealing his thoughts behind a mask of reserve. The book emerged from verses Eliot had been including in letters to his godchildren since the early 1930s, gradually developing a cast of feline characters, each with a distinct personality and each operating according to the logic of their “practical” nature.
“The Naming of Cats” — the opening poem establishes the conceit: every cat has three names — a family name, a peculiar name, and a secret name “that no human research can discover.” The poem’s playful taxonomy parodies Eliot’s own scholarly methodology.
“Macavity: The Mystery Cat” — Macavity, “the Napoleon of Crime” (modeled on Moriarty), is never found at the scene of his crimes. “Macavity’s not there!”
“Mr. Mistoffelees” — a magical cat whose conjuring tricks astonish. The poem’s rhythmic energy anticipates its musical adaptation.
“Gus: The Theatre Cat” — an aging actor-cat who remembers his great roles. The poem’s nostalgia and tenderness reveal a side of Eliot rarely visible in his “serious” work.
“Bustopher Jones: The Cat About Town” — a fat, distinguished club-cat who dines at the finest establishments. A comic self-portrait of Eliot’s own clubbable persona.
Context
Eliot wrote the cat poems during the same period he was composing Burnt Norton (1935) and the plays — a period of intense spiritual and artistic seriousness. The lightness of the cat verses was not a departure from this seriousness but a complement to it: Eliot believed that poetry should span the full range of human experience, from the metaphysical to the trivial, and that a poet who could not write nonsense was incomplete.
The book’s publication in October 1939 — the month after Britain declared war on Germany — gave it an accidental significance as a last gesture of peacetime lightness before the darkness of the war years descended.
Cats: The Musical
Andrew Lloyd Webber adapted the poems into the musical Cats in 1981. The show became the longest-running musical in both West End and Broadway history (surpassed on Broadway by The Phantom of the Opera in 2006). Lloyd Webber added a narrative arc — the “Jellicle Ball” at which one cat is chosen for rebirth — and set several poems to music that became independently famous (“Memory,” sung by Grizabella, is based on unpublished Eliot fragments).
The musical transformed the book’s cultural status. What had been a modestly selling volume of light verse became one of the most recognizable poetry titles in the English language — though literary critics have debated whether the musical’s popularity enhanced or diminished the poems’ reputation.
Publication History
The first edition was published by Faber and Faber, London, in October 1939, with cover illustrations by the author. First printings are identified by:
- Faber and Faber imprint
- “First published in October mcmxxxix” on copyright page
- Eliot’s own cover drawings
- Yellow paper boards (no cloth binding for the true first)
The book was reprinted rapidly and has never been out of print. Illustrated editions by Edward Gorey (1982) and Axel Scheffler (2009) are collected in their own right.
Collecting Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats
First edition (Faber, 1939): Fine copies in the original yellow boards bring $2,000–$6,000. The wartime paper is fragile, and most copies show wear. True fine copies are scarce.
Signed copies are very rare for this title. Eliot signed at events but first-edition copies signed close to publication are exceptional — $10,000–$25,000.
The Edward Gorey illustrated edition (1982) is collected at $50–$200, with signed Gorey copies bringing $300–$800.
Pre-publication states — Eliot sent individual cat poems to friends in letters during the 1930s; these manuscript/typescript versions are museum-level items.
The book’s combination of literary distinction (Eliot’s authorship), cultural ubiquity (Cats the musical), and wartime scarcity makes it one of the most sought-after mid-twentieth-century poetry titles.