Lords of the Housetops: Thirteen Cat Tales

From Mark Twain to Edgar Allan Poe, this short story collection features thirteen classic tales about the secret life of cats, all carefully curated by Carl Van Vechten.

Lords of the Housetops is a short story collection featuring thirteen authors and their insights into the secretive cat world. Entertaining, humorous, and sometimes a little bit creepy, this volume includes some literary classics and highlights the many hidden details of a cat’s life.

This volume features thirteen short stories:
- ‘The Cat’ by Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman
- ‘Zut’ by Guy Wetmore Carryl
- ‘A Physical Invasion’ by Algernon Blackwood
- ‘The Afflictions of an English Cat’ by Honore de Balzac
- ‘Gipsy’ by Booth Tarkington
- ‘The Blue Dryad’ by George Herbert Powell
- ‘Dick Baker's Cat’ by Mark Twain
- ‘The Black Cat’ by Edgar Allan Poe
- ‘Madame Jolicoeur's Cat’ by Thomas Allibone Janvier
- ‘A Friendly Rat’ by William Henry Hudson
- ‘Monty's Friend’ by William Livingston Alden
- ‘The Queen's Cat’ by Peggy Bacon
- ‘Calvin’ by Charles Dudley Warner


First published in 1921, this classic collection of short cat tales would be the perfect read for cat lovers of all ages and is not to be missed by fans of literary fiction.