Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Price: US$8.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: VERY GOOD Condition PAPERBACK,clean, solid,bright; .RED SPINE TITLES ON BLACK SPINE & COVERS. Cover art shows an ORANGE CAT WITH BLUE TIE.THIS IS A NICE COPY OF AN EARLY PAPERBACK EDITION. ; 59ps THIN pages; Fascinating Feline Rhymes.Good humor & short rhymes.
Seller: WONDERFUL BOOKS BY MAIL, Durham-CA, CA, U.S.A.
ELIOT, T. S.. OLD POSSUM'S BOOK OF PRACTICAL CATS. Harcourt Brace Publisher 1939,1982, NY, 1939.
Price: US$8.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: VERY GOOD CONDITION PAPERBACK,tasteful bookplate inner covr "Shnayer 1584 Borman".else nice copy. ; .BLACK SPINE TITLES ON ORANGE SPINE & COVERS. Cover art shows 6 cats on fountain statue. .cover blurb."AN ORIGINAL HARVEST" BACK COVER ART SHOWS THE FRONT COVER ARTWORK VIEWED FROM THE BACK.VERY CUTE. ; 56ps THIN pages; Fascinating Feline Rhymes.Good humor & short rhymes.INSPIERED CATS THE MISICAL.
Seller: WONDERFUL BOOKS BY MAIL, Durham-CA, CA, U.S.A.
Eliot, T. S.. Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. Harcourt, Brace & Co, San Diego, CA, 1939.
Price: US$20.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description:
Seller: M & M Books, ATHENS, GA, U.S.A.
T.S. Eliot. Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1939.
Price: US$25.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: [Inspiration for Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Cats.] Bound in publisher's cloth. Hardcover. No dust jacket. Shelf wear. Title and dedication page starting to detach. Rear board slightly soiled.
Seller: Sequitur Books, Boonsboro, MD, U.S.A.
Eliot, T.S.. Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. Harcourt Brace and Company, 1939.
Price: US$30.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: Later printing with $2.50 jacket price. Cocked binding in good condition. Softening to ends of spine and light foxing to cloth. A tiny puncture to text block near gutter can be seen on each page. Previous owner's name written on FFEP. Text and images unmarked. Glue from the bindery process is visible along both gutters. Orange dust jacket is soiled and worn with chipping, rubbing, small edge tears and creasing. Dust jacket in a mylar cover. 8vo. 46pp.
Seller: Chaparral Books, Portland, OR, U.S.A.
Eliot, T.S.. Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. Harcourt, Brace [ca. 1939], 1939.
Price: US$40.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: VG+/VG+ (rubbing/sunning/soiling to DJ, small chip missing from top of front cover). 8vo with DJ 46pp. Later issue of the first American edition (see Gallup A34b). Very nice copy in nice jacket. pictorial t.p./verso.
Seller: Arundel Books, Seattle, WA, U.S.A.
Eliot, T.S.. Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. Harcourt, Brace [ca. 1939], 1939.
Price: US$40.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: VG+/VG+ (sl rubbing/sunning to DJ). 8vo with DJ 46 Later issue of the first American edition (see Gallup A34b). Nice copy in almost perfect jacket.pictorial t.p./verso.
Seller: Arundel Books, Seattle, WA, U.S.A.
Eliot, T. S.. The Family Reunion. Harcourt, Brace & Co., New York, 1939.
Price: US$45.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Later printing. Black cover with gold spine lettering in a black dust jacket. "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats" is the last title on the back cover. Dust jacket is not price clipped, $2.75. 131 rough cut pages. Former owner's name on ffep. ; 8vo
Seller: E Ridge Fine Books, Lake Elsinore, CA, U.S.A.
ELIOT, T. S.. Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats.. New York Harcourt, Brace and Company 1939, 1939.
Price: US$51.33 + shipping
Description: One of the early printings of the American edition. Beige coloured cloth covers. No dust jacket. Cloth covers are slightly darkened / lightly soiled. Previous owners name written neatly to front free endpaper. Overall in a good condition. 46 pages. 225 x 160 mm (8¾ x 6¼ inches).
Seller: Harrison-Hiett Rare Books, Richelieu, France
Price: US$52.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: 46p.
Seller: J. Lawton, Booksellers, Readville, MA, U.S.A.
Eliot, T. S.. Old Possum's Book Of Practical Cats. Harcourt, Brace & Company, 1939.
Price: US$74.97 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Grey cloth book in an orange dust jacket priced at $1.25. The book Dated 1939 has no printing statement or letter code, It dose have the printer name below the Printed in the United States line.
Seller: Mark Henderson, Olathe, KS, U.S.A.
Price: US$75.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Slim octavo in buff colored cloth. Early but not first American edition. Additional title leaf, orange printed in black duplicating the dust jacket design (not found in the British edition). 46 pp. Tight, internally bright example, some light spotting to the cloth and a small early fountain pen gift inscription top portion of the front pastedown. In the original orange paper dust jacket lettered and with humorous drawinmg in black, price clipped with some toning about the top and right edges, some rubbing to the spine strip which has been archivally reinforced. One of Eliot's most beloved works, a collection of whimsical cat poems; basis for the long running Broadway musical "Cats"
Seller: Old Book Shop of Bordentown (ABAA, ILAB), Bordentown, NJ, U.S.A.
T.S. Eliot. Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York, 1939.
Price: US$75.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: Date on copyright page is 1939 without any other printings or date codes, but this is a later printing with $2.25 on dust jacket flap, best guess 40s or 50s. Nice bright copy, clean and unmarked, tan cloth binding, orange title page with same art as front of dust jacket. Spine panel on dust jacket mildly faded and small dampstain at edge of spine on back panel, no chips or tears. Nice collectible copy with the same flavor of the first edition at a reasonable price.
Seller: The Book Shelf, Salem, OR, U.S.A.
ELIOT, T. S.. Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats.. Harcourt, Brace and Company,, NY:, 1939.
Price: US$75.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Basis for the 1980 Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, CATS. An early printing of the American edition. Previous owner's book-plate on front paste-down, else very good in a very good (minor edge wear with small chips at the spine ends, age toning, fading along the spine), price clipped dust jacket.; 46 pages
Seller: Grendel Books, ABAA/ILAB, Springfield, MA, U.S.A.
Eliot, T. S.. Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York, 1939.
Price: US$75.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Eliot's fun and whimsical, and most accessible, collection of poems, the basis of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, "Cats". 8vo. 46 pp. Dust jacket with chip in center not fully detached but barely holding on to the rest, and a few other tiny edge chips, and a moderate amount of soiling. DJ price clipped. Cloth binding with fairly dark foxing around edges of boards. Closed tear and crease on lower inch or so of orange title page. FFEP with a card mounted on center with a typed and ink signed gift message done in rather sweet verse. Overall, we would regard this as a lovely, if obviously imperfect, copy.
Seller: White Fox Rare Books, ABAA/ILAB, New York, NY, U.S.A.
T.S. Eliot. Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. Harcourt, Brace & Company, New York, 1939.
Price: US$80.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: Original tan cloth with black title, single 1939 date on copyright page, and original thin orange card stock dust jacket. A book of humorous poems concerning cats, and one of Eliot's most popular works, written for his godchildren and an inspiration for the musical Cats! Book is fine, clean and unmarked. The iconic dust jacket is whole, clean and bright save for slight fading at edges, retaining its color. Price-clipped with a thin 1/2" horizontal chip to the rear top edge. Jacket has been internally reinforced at folds with archival tissue not visible on front, the whole protected and enhanced by the archival Mylar jacket cover.
Seller: Bibliodisia Books, IOBA, MWABA, Chicago, IL, U.S.A.
Eliot, T.S.. Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. Harcourt, Brace & Co, New York, 1939.
Price: US$83.00 + shipping
Description: 8vo, 46pp. Cream cloth, black title at spine. Pink pictorial dj with illustration of cats climbing ladder, title in black at front cover and spine. Slightly sunned at spine, a couple sml. marks at front cover, o/w vgc, not price clipped, with price $2.25. Internally, neat previous owner name in pencil at ffep, o/w very good, with title page on orange paper.
Seller: Antipodean Books, Maps & Prints, ABAA, Garrison, NY, U.S.A.
Eliot, T.S.. Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. Harcourt, Brace, New York, 1939.
Price: US$94.00 + shipping
Description: 46p. Jacket smudged, spine sunned. Endpaper hinges a little darkened from binding glue. Bookseller ticket of The Old Corner Book Store, Boston. An early printing of the U.S. edition in the first-issue dust jacket (price $1.50). Copyright 1939, no printing statement. Designed by Robert Josephy. Title page printed on orange lightweight card stock, repeating the jacket design. The collection of verse that inspired the musical "Cats." Can be sent out of the US for less than the default shipping rate.
Seller: Robin Bledsoe, Bookseller (ABAA), Cambridge, MA, U.S.A.
Eliot S.T.. Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. Harcourt Brace, 1939.
Price: US$95.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: 8vo hardcover volume in tan cloth with very good dust jacket. Jacket has a couple small edge tears and faded spine and is price clipped. Couple light spots to front cover and inscription on endpaper else book tight and clean inside. A early printing
Seller: Antique Emporium, Eau Claire, WI, U.S.A.
Price: US$100.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: 46p octavo, later printing circa 1960s ? with code 'M.9.61' A very good copy in very good price clipped dust jacket . Jacket nicked at the crown
Seller: Old New York Book Shop, ABAA, Atlanta, GA, U.S.A.
ELIOT, T. S.. Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats.. Harcourt, Brace and Company, [New York], 1939.
Price: US$100.00 + shipping
Description: 46 pp. 8vo, original cloth in dust jacket. Early US edition. Slight darkening to (inner) hinges from binder's adhesive; slight tanning around the edges of the cloth; unworn, tight and sound in a sharp unworn jacket with the very slightest of dust-soiling.
Seller: Jeffrey H. Marks, Rare Books, ABAA, Rochester, NY, U.S.A.
ELIOT T.S. OLD POSSUM'S BOOK OF PRACTICAL CATS. HARCOURT BRACE, NY, 1939.
Price: US$150.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: COPYRIGHT PAGE STATES COPYRIGHT 1939 BY T.S ELIOT NO MENTION OF EDITION OR OTHER PRINTINGS TITLE PAGE IS ORANGE LEADING ME TO BELIEVE THAT ITS A VERY EARLY EDITION BOUND IN GRAY WITH PERFECT BLACK LETTERING TO SPINE BOOK DESIGNED BY ROBERT JOSEPHY BOOK IS EX LIBRARY WITH POCKET REMOVAL MARKS STAMP ON FOREDGE AND PENCIL NUMBERS ON DEDICATION PAGE SOLID BINDING AND NICE TEXTBLOCK AREAS OF SPOTTING AND SOILING TO COVER
Seller: ARD Books, cleveland, OH, U.S.A.
Eliot, T.S.. OLD POSSUM'S BOOK OF PRACTICAL CATS. Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York, 1939.
Price: US$150.00 + shipping
Description: Early printing, lacking the requisite "first American edition" statement on the copyright page. Octavo (22cm); light gray cloth, with titles stamped in black on spine; dustjacket; [10],11-46,[2]pp. Spine gently sunned, some faint, scattered foxing to upper board edges and spine, and dust-soil to upper edge of textblock; Very Good+. Dustjacket is unclipped (priced $1.25), gently sunned and lightly dust-soiled, with modest wear to extremities, a few faint stains, a chip to lower left corner of rear panel, and an attendant tear (tape-mended on verso); Very Good. Eliot's much-reprinted book of poems on the psychology and social lives of cats, basis for Andrew Lloyd Weber's 1981 musical of the same name. Ref.Gallup A34b.
Seller: Captain Ahab's Rare Books, ABAA, Stephenson, VA, U.S.A.
Eliot, T.S.. Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. Harcourt, Brace and Co, [New York], 1939.
Price: US$150.00 + shipping
Description: Light gray cloth boards with black spine lettering; orange dj with black lettering and illustration; 46 pp, 1 unnumbered leaf of plates. 1st American edition. "The title-leaf, printed on orange paper, lettered by the author and with his pictorial design, is inserted [tipped in]." These playful verses by a celebrated poet have delighted readers and cat lovers around the world ever since they were gathered for publication in 1939. As Valerie Eliot has pointed out, there are a number of references to cats in T.S. Eliot's work, but it was to his godchildren, particularly Tom Faber and Alison Tandy, in the 1930s, that he first revealed himself as "Old Possum" and for whom he composed his poems; later inspired Andrew Lloyd Webber's legendary musical "Cats" Good- (foxing and soiling spots to boards; age toning overall, soiling spot along top of block that extends very slightly to page edges. DJ is worn, soiled and torn.)
Seller: Mullen Books, ABAA, Marietta, PA, U.S.A.
Eliot, T.S.. Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. Harcourt Brace & Company, New York, 1939.
Price: US$195.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: Harcourt Brace & Co. New York. 46 pages. 1939 (1959.) While 1939 is the last date on the copyright page, Harcourt's publisher code L.1.59 is present; hence this is the 12th printing of the first edition, from 1959. Book is tight. Binding and hinges are strong and sound. Book is fine with one minor single flaw; a neatly written, vintage gift inscription from mother to son on the front endpaper, dated October 28, 1959. Original DJ with $2.50 price intact on flap. DJ is near fine with one flaw; a slightly sunned fore-edge. A most attractive copy of Eliot's classic, and basis for the Broadway hit, CATS. fine/near fine.
Seller: Medium Rare Books, Mountainside, NJ, U.S.A.
ELIOT T.S.. Old Possum'Book of practical cats. Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1939.
Price: US$220.41 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: Cartonnage éditeur in-8 (225x155 mm) pleine toile beige, sous jaquette illustrée. 46 pages.
Seller: Librairie FAUGUET, Marseille, France
T.S. Eliot. Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats (1939). Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1939.
Price: US$250.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Later printing as price on jacket is $2.25 (first printing was $1.25) Tight and unmarked exhibiting light shelf wear and dust dulling to top edge. Please email for photos. Larger books or sets may require additional shipping charges. Books sent via US Postal
Seller: Griffin Books, Stamford, CT, U.S.A.
Eliot, T. S.. Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. Harcourt, Brace, New York, 1939.
Price: US$275.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Given that the dust jacket has a price of $1.25, this is presumably an early issue ( We have another copy with the price of $2.50.)
Seller: By Books Alone, Woodstock, NY, U.S.A.
T.S.Eliot. Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. Harcourt,Brace and Company, 1939.
Price: US$275.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: Hardback book (46 pages)stated first American edition. Boards show moderate scuffing/rubbing with soiling at edge - foxing/browning on endpapers - name written top of front flyleaf. Bookseller since 1995 (ULTV-Bottom-L rareviewbooks
Seller: rareviewbooks, Kensington, MD, U.S.A.
Price: US$384.98 + shipping
Description: pp. (viii), 46, (ii). Additional title, black on orange paper. Orange dust wrapper, decorated in black on front and rear panels, wrapper spine a bit faded, 3 small tears at the top edge of the rear panel of the wrapper without loss, the end-papers toned along the gutters, grey cloth foxed along all the edges, contents bright, wrapper turn-in priced $1.25, a nice copy overall.
Seller: Patrick Pollak Rare Books ABA ILAB, SOUTH BRENT, DEVON, United Kingdom
Price: US$385.00 + shipping
Description: stated First American Edition, 2 dust jackets original dustjacket is darkened & badly torn & being held together with tape front flap separated and $1.25 price, and taped to boards and front flap is inside book, address Harcourt, Brace and Company 383 Madison Ave, New York inscription on front end page To Budd, signed Bill, general wear, age toned pages.Between page 14 and 15 is 1/4 inch of orange title page edge. Title page Bright Orange heavier paper same as dustjacket . Also includes a newer dust jacket as well. Front flap having $4.50 price Harcourt, Brace and World, Inc. 757 Third Ave, New York 17, N. Y. DATE PUBLISHED: 1939 EDITION: 46
Seller: Princeton Antiques Bookshop, Atlantic City, NJ, U.S.A.
T.S Eliot. Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. Harcourt Brace, 1939.
Price: US$399.45 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: Grey cloth, $1.25 price on jacket, edition not stated, no markings, jacket and cover slightly worn on exterior
Seller: Fantastic Book Discoveries, Cockeysville, MD, U.S.A.
ELIOT, T.S.. Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats.. Harcourt, Brace, New York., 1939.
Price: US$449.14 + shipping
Description: First U.S. edition. Octavo. 46 pages. 2000 copies were printed. The title-page, lettered and with a design by the author, is printed on orange paper.Cloth a little spotted. Front endpaper faintly tanned. Very good in very good dustwrapper a little creased and rubbed at edges and slightly faded at spine.
Seller: Peter Ellis, Bookseller, ABA, ILAB, London, United Kingdom
Eliot, T S. Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. Harcourt Brace, USA, 1939.
Price: US$461.98 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: A US first edition, first impression. The Wrapper : The wrapper on this copy is bright and complete. It has been clipped. There is a small drawing of a heart below the clipping. The front panel is bright and unfaded. It shows trivial bruising to the top and bottom edges. The spine has - as ever - darkened. It is scuffed at either end - the spine ends have been reinforced internally. The back panel is bright, if a little soiled. It shows trivial nicking - again, internally reinforced - at the corners. Looks sharp in protective plastic. The Book : The book is tight and bright. The boards are sound - there is a trace of spotting to the edges. The corners are sharp. The spine is bruised at the bottom and the top. The pages are clean. No foxing. The closed page edges are slightly dulled. The bottom corner of orange title page is detached by 2cm. The binding is tight. No loose pages. There is a neat gift inscription on the reverse of the ffep. An uncommon title. Paypal accepted.
Seller: Cheltenham Rare Books, Cheltenham, United Kingdom
Eliot, T.S.. Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats.. Harcourt Brace and Company, New York, 1939.
Price: US$650.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: First American Edition. An unequivocally Fine copy in dull pale grey cloth, in a Very Good orange paper dustwrapper, not price-clipped, with tiny loss to spine-ends, one short closed tear to lower spine-fold. 46pp. Q16490
Seller: Compass Rose Books, ABAA-ILAB, Kensington, CA, U.S.A.
Eliot, T. S.. OLD POSSUM'S BOOK OF PRACTICAL CATS. , 1939.
Price: US$716.00 + shipping
Description: 1939 Eliot, T S OLD POSSUM'S BOOK OF PRACTICAL CATS NY: Harcourt, Brace and Company, c1939 46pp 8vo tpage printed on orange paper spine and edges of boards slightly discolored, else fine bright copy in orange d/w (spine panel slightly darkened, faint signs of darkening).
Seller: Columbia Books, ABAA/ILAB, MWABA, Columbia, MO, U.S.A.
Eliot, T. S.. Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. Harcourt, Brace and Company, NY, 1939.
Price: US$748.00 + shipping
Description: First American edition. One of 2000 copies. Eliot's clever, jovial collection of poems on feline activity, ritual, and politics enjoyed enduring popularity thanks in large part to its adaptation for the stage by Andrew Lloyd Webber. As with the London first edition, the American first retains Eliot's illustration and lettering for the dust wrapper and title page. In publisher's gray cloth, showing fading to the spine and marginal spotting, but otherwise bright and about fine. Similarly bright price-clipped dust wrapper shows some sunning to spine and single half-inch tear to top of upper cover. (Gallup A34.b).
Seller: Bromer Booksellers, Inc., ABAA, Boston, MA, U.S.A.
T. S. Eliot. Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1939.
Price: US$751.57 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Very good copy in very good jacket. 1st US edition, 1939. DJ darkened on spine, price clipped on four corners. Slight foxing to fore edge and top edge of cloth boards. Short closed tear to top/front DJ.
Seller: The Scribe Bookstore, ABAC, Toronto, ON, Canada
T.S.Eliot. Old Possum's Book Of Practical Cats. Harcourt,Brace and Company, 1939.
Price: US$795.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: Fine Copy in Like Jacket. $1.25 On Flap. Orange Jacket With Gray Boards. Very Rare In This Condition. Stated First American Edition. Iconic Eliot Book That The Great Broadway Play Cats Was Produced From. Gorgeous Fresh Copy.
Seller: Jeff Bergman Books ABAA, ILAB, Flemington, NJ, U.S.A.
Eliot, T. S.. Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York, 1939.
Price: US$950.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: 8vo, 8 1/2 x 6 inches (215 x 152 mm). 46 pp + 1 blank. Grey cloth boards lettered in black down the spine. Orange dust jacket lettered in black by the author with his pictorial designs on front and back, price of $1.25 unclipped, tears to the spine paper repaired with acid-free paper tape. One of 2000 copies printed. On verso of title leaf:. "first American Edition Printed in the United States of America." A title-leaf, printed on orange paper is inserted, reproducing the front and back designs of the dust jacket. Binding tight and square, edges very lightly discolored, pages clean and evenly toned. [Gallup A34b]. The title of this book of light verse is given by Ezra Pound's friendly nickname for Eliot "Old Possum." In 1954, the composer Alan Rawsthorne set six of the poems for speaker and orchestra in a work titled Practical Cats. After Eliot's death, the book was the basis of the musical Cats by Andrew Lloyd Webber, first produced in London's West End in 1981 and opening on Broadway the following year. From the estate of Robert Cecil Bald (1901 -1965), an Australian scholar of English Literature, who moved to the US to teach at Cornell University in 1937 and was then a professor at the University of Chicago from 1952 to 1965.
Seller: Rob Zanger Rare Books LLC, Middletown, NY, U.S.A.
Eliot, T.S. Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats.. Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York, 1939.
Price: US$975.00 + shipping
Description: First American edition of Eliot's beloved collection of whimsical feline poems which served as the basis for Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1981 megamusical phenomenon Cats. Octavo, original cloth. Very good in a good price-clipped dust jacket. Jacket illustration by T.S. Eliot. Eliot wrote the poems contained in Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats in the 1930s and included them, under his assumed name "Old Possum", in letters to his godchildren. They were collected and published in 1939, with cover illustrations by the author, and quickly re-published in 1940, illustrated in full by Nicolas Bentley. Andrew Lloyd Webber began setting Eliot's poems to music in 1977, and the compositions were first presented as a song cycle in 1980. Producer Cameron Mackintosh then recruited director Trevor Nunn and choreographer Gillian Lynne to turn the songs into a complete musical. Cats opened to positive reviews at the New London Theatre in the West End in 1981 and then to mixed reviews at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway in 1982. It won numerous awards including Best Musical at both the Laurence Olivier and Tony Awards. Despite its unusual premise that deterred investors initially, the musical turned out to be an unprecedented commercial success, with a worldwide gross of US$3.5 billion by 2012. Cats started the megamusical phenomenon, establishing a global market for musical theatre and directing the industry's focus to big-budget blockbusters, as well as family- and tourist-friendly shows. The musical's profound but polarizing influence also reshaped the aesthetic, technology, and marketing of the medium. Cats was adapted into a direct-to-video film in 1998, and a feature film adaptation directed by Tom Hooper in 2019.
Seller: Raptis Rare Books, Palm Beach, FL, U.S.A.
Eliot, T. S.. Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats.. Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York, 1939.
Price: US$1000.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: First American edition. Published the same year as the British. About fine in a very good+ dust jacket with tips of flaps clipped, with a hint of printed price visible. Spine on jacket lightly toned. Trace of trivial shelf-wear. (46pp. ) (2000 copies printed. Basis for the musical "Cats." Presents well. (GC) ; 6 1/4" x 8 3/4"; 46 pages
Seller: WAVERLEY BOOKS ABAA, Santa Monica, CA, U.S.A.
Eliot, T S. Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. Harcourt Brace & Co, 1939.
Price: US$1500.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: Beautiful copy of this classic; 1st American edition, published the same year as the British but with an orange title/copyright page that is a copy of the jacket; dj is price clipped with light wear/chipping to top and bottom edges; this copy was owned by Bertram Rota, noted London book dealer, with his pencil signature and notes ("1st American Edition/Contains an illustrated title leaf not in the English edition"); text clean and tight with no marks other than those noted above Size: 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall
Seller: Cornelius Muhilly Rare Books, Kansas City, MO, U.S.A.