The Book of Cats: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

The Book of Cats, credited to Charles Henry Ross, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of The Book of Cats by Charles Henry Ross. Read in English by Krzysztof Rowiński; P. J. Morgan; Ellen Preckel; MariaS; Emily Maynard One day, ever so long ago, it struck me that I should like to try and write a book about Cats. I mentioned the idea to some of my friends: the first burst out laughing at the end of my opening sentence, so I refrained from entering into further details. The second said there were a hundred books about Cats already. The third said, “Nobody would read it,” and added, “Besides, what do you know of the subject?” and before I had time to begin to tell him, said he expected it was very little. “Why not Dogs?” asked one friend of mine, hitting upon the notion as though by inspiration. “Or Horses,” said some one else; “or Pigs; or, look here, this is the finest notion of all:— ‘THE BOOK OF DONKIES, BY ONE OF THE FAMILY!’” Somewhat disheartened by the reception my little project had met with, I gave up the idea for awhile, and went to work upon other things. I cannot exactly remember what I did, or how much, but my book about Cats was postponed sine die, and in the meantime I made some inquiries. I hope I have not been very prosy, and I hope, in the somewhat large collection of Cat anecdotes here brought together, “the only one worth the trouble of relating” has not been omitted. If this has been the case, allow me to assure you it has not been because I have spared any trouble in gathering together my materials. (C.H.Ross)

Recording facts

• Recording title: The Book of Cats
• Author credits: Charles Henry Ross
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 14
• Listed recording duration: 5:11:32

Catalogue topics

• animals
• Ross
• cat

Track guide

1. 01 - Chapter I. Of the reason why this Book was written, and of several sorts of Cats which are not strictly Zoological — 12:31
2. 02 - Chapter II. Of some Wicked Stories that have been told about Cats — 20:50
3. 03 - Chapter III. Of other Wicked Stories, with a few Words in Defence of the Accused — 23:15
4. 04 - Chapter IV. Of the Manners and Customs of Cats — 19:43
5. 05 - Chapter V. Of Whittington’s Cat, and another Cat that visited Strange Countries — 10:15
6. 06 - Chapter VI. Of various kinds of Cats, Ancient and Modern — 19:09
7. 07 - Chapter VII. Of some Clever Cats — 27:55
8. 08 - Chapter VIII. Of some amiable Cats, and Cats that have been good Mothers — 23:10
9. 09 - Chapter IX. Of Puss in Proverbs, in the Dark Ages, and in the Company of Wicked Old Women — 29:10
10. 10 - Chapter X. Of a certain Voracious Cat, some Goblin Cats, Magical Cats, and Cats of Kilkenny — 25:49
11. 11 - Chapter XI. Of Pussy poorly, and of some Curiosities of the Cat’s-meat Trade — 21:46
12. 12 - Chapter XII. Of Wild Cats, Cat Charming, etc.: Part 1 — 29:38
13. 13 - Chapter XII. Of Wild Cats, Cat Charming, etc.: Part 2 — 23:25
14. 14 - Chapter XIII. Conclusion — 24:56

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Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.