Audiobook · read by volunteers
Concerning Cats: My Own and Some Others
Helen M. Winslow (1851–1938)
Read by Patricia Oakley, Kristine Bekere · 14 chapters · 5 h 53
About the book
Helen Winslow loved cats, and she says so on every page. Concerning Cats is a warm, funny and affectionate collection of portraits, anecdotes and observations about the cats she had known, along with those of friends and famous admirers. There is Pretty Lady, whose character convinced the author that cats truly love their people, in their dignified, reserved way.
The chapters range widely: her own cats and other people’s, historic cats, cats in poetry and art, cat shows and cat hospitals, even the origin of the species and the language of cats. Her enthusiasm is infectious, and she gathers stories that will bring a smile to anyone who has shared a home with a feline.
At fourteen chapters and nearly six hours, the book is easily enjoyed in small portions. It is a snapshot of how cat lovers saw their companions at the turn of the twentieth century, and a delight for modern ones who recognise every habit described.
Introduction
Helen M. Winslow (1851-1938) was an American journalist, editor and author and a lifelong cat lover. Concerning Cats: My Own and Some Others appeared in 1900.
Winslow’s book combines personal memoir with general reflection. She describes individual animals with obvious affection, and argues that cats are intelligent, loyal and capable of real attachment, a view that may seem unremarkable today but was less universal at the time. The book opens with Pretty Lady, the cat whose character convinced Winslow that cats love their people in their own dignified and reserved way, and it moves outward from her household to historic cats, to cats in England and in America, to the clubs and shows where prized animals were exhibited, to the hospitals and refuges for cats, and to the poets and artists who have taken cats as their subject. She also turns, more playfully, to the origin and varieties of the animal and to its language.
Her style is chatty and informal, with the pleasantly old-fashioned tone of American magazine writing around 1900. Readers will find opinions that reflect the period, including attitudes to pets and animal care that differ from modern practice, but the central affection is clear, and the stories are charming.
This recording has fourteen chapters and lasts almost six hours, read by LibriVox volunteers. It is ideal for dipping into, a chapter at a time, perhaps with a cat on your lap. Anyone who has ever shared a home with one will recognise the strange mixture of independence and devotion that Winslow tried to capture more than a century ago.
Public domain
Helen M. Winslow died in 1938: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text