Distributed for Bodleian Library Publishing
Great Writers and the Cats who Owned Them
A fun, charming romp through the history of seventeen great writers and the cats who captured their hearts.
Throughout history, cats and writers have banded together in a magical combination of comfort, companionship, and inspiration. Great Writers and the Cats who Owned Them features famous authors ranging from Samuel Johnson whose cat Hodge dined on oysters, to Edward Lear whose charismatic cat Foss was missing half his tail, to Dorothy L. Sayers who rescued her kitten Blitz from a bombsite. Each chapter delves into the relationship between authors and the felines who condescended to share their homes and desks, revealing intriguing aspects of the writers’ lives and celebrating how cats—pure-bred and mixed-breeds, large and small, graceful and eccentric—enriched the world of literature. Including fun additional features on cats in bookshops, libraries, and hotels, and illustrated with charming line drawings, this book is a perfect gift for cat lovers everywhere.
Table of Contents
HODGE, for whom Dr Johnson bought oysters
paws for thought Petrarch’s cat
SELIMA, whose death was memorialized for Horace Walpole
paws for thought The mad poet’s cat 37
RUMPELSTILZCHEN, ruler of Robert Southey’s ‘Cat’s Eden’
paws for thought The literary origins of the Tom Cat
MYSOUFF I, who permitted Alexandre Dumas to escort him home
paws for thought An author and the cat flap
FOSS, who owned Edward Lear
paws for thought The first book of cat care
BOB, who helped Charles Dickens open letters
paws for thought The literary Cheshire cat
BAMBINO, whose slave was Mark Twain
paws for thought The literary hotel cat
LA CHATTE, who held Colette under her spell
paws for thought The cat of The Incredible Journey
DAFFY, who knew Anne of Green Gables before anybody else
paws for thought Kipling’s cat
NELSON, who was Chief Mouser to Sir Winston Churchill
paws for thought Library cats
BOISE, who was a Christmas treat for Ernest Hemingway
paws for thought The literary cats of Harry Potter
OLD TIMER, who gained Margaret Mitchell’s sympathies
paws for thought Theatre cats
BLITZ, who murdered mice for Dorothy L. Sayers
paws for thought T.S. Eliot’s cat poems
SAMBO, who helped Paul Gallico remain in a state of delusion
paws for thought Nursery-rhyme cats
BLUEBELL, who critiqued Dame Muriel Spark’s manuscripts
paws for thought The cat who helped children learn to read
EL MAGNIFICO, who enchanted Doris Lessing paws for thought Socks, the letter-writing cat
WOOSKIT, who morphed into Slinky Malinki for Dame Lynley Dodd
TAILPIECE