<P> Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats (1939) is a collection of whimsical poems by T.S. Eliot about feline psychology and sociology, published by Faber and Faber . It is the basis for the musical Cats . </P> <P> Eliot wrote the poems 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 . They have also been published in versions illustrated by Edward Gorey (1982) and Axel Scheffler (2009). </P>

Cats the musical was based on a book of poems by which poet