Shorter Notices
Cat's Company. By Michael Joseph. (Michael Joseph. 8s. 6d.)
THE domestic animals are seldom seen to advantage in literature. The horse or dog cannot appear in print but the experienced reader feels for his pocket-handkerchief. The cat, to its credit, does not demand tears, but rather a whimsical smile which, if unduly pro- longed, may well turn into a grimace. However, this warning given, it must be confessed that Mr. Joseph is more successful than most. He is also reassuring to those of us who suspect that we may be a little silly about our own cats ; we can none of us be sillier than he. We may not put all his precepts into practice (" many cats enjoy asparagus," " butter and cream are also very good for cats " are likely to remain unverified) ; we may not really approve of this sort of book ; but after a page or two we are on the point of seizing a postcard on which to inform Mr. Joseph of the quite unusual qualities and capacities of our own cats. Few authors can hope for as much. I doubt that even the most impassioned cat-lover could get through these 222 pages without a distinct stiffening of the smile, but taken in small doses this new and enlarged edition of cat stories will give much innocent pleasure to those enslaved in the same bonds as Petrarch and Poincare, Jeremy Bentham and Baudelaire, Dr. Johnson and Mr. Michael Joseph.
Previous page
