Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T.S. Eliot

Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats 

T. S. Eliot

Harcourt, Brace & Company 1939 

First American Edition. Condition: Very Good +. DJ Condition: Very Good. Cream-colored cloth binding and bright orange paper dustjacket with protective mylar sleeve. The dustjacket is well preserved, price is clipped. There is some very light fading along the very top edge as well as some small bumps from shelfwear. Some faint discoloration on the back. The boards of the book are crisp and clean. There are no signs of wear, but there is a small bit of what looks like some sort of binding adhesive on the inner face of the back board at the top. The interior of the book is also quite neat, save for a scratch on the table of contents page. 

A celebrated modernist poet, T. S. Eliot dabbled across literary approaches: Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats is one of the quirkier examples of this. Written originally for his godchildren, the book is a collection of poems that introduces a cast of cat protagonists sporting silly names. This book was the inspiration for the 1981 hit broadway musical Cats.