Guest Post: Review: Old Dame Trot and Her Comical Cat (1860) by Anonymous #ReadingtheMeow2024

Starting off #ReadingtheMeow2024 with a guest post from my mother who found this cute vintage rhyme on fadedpage, a poem that turned out to have a rather interesting history.

I found this vintage Rhyme Book on Fadedpage. Published in 1860, the Author is anonymous and so is the artist. Perhaps the writing and illustrations are done by the same person, but the Publisher is listed as ‘The Catnach Press’:

Image via Fadedpage

Each page is adorned with an illustration followed by a short rhyme. It opens with:

Old Dame Trot
Going to the fair,
With the Cat on her shoulder
 To see the folks there.

Via fadedpage

The pages following this are each entitled with four letters of the alphabet as in ABCD, EFGH, etc. And each page has an illustration and a rhyme. I am still trying to find a link between the alphabet and the rhyme. Perhaps, some more observant reader may be able to do so.

The illustrations look like woodcuts. The closing Rhyme is:

The fire was out,
 So she went for some fuel,
When she came back,
  They were fighting a duel.
You look nice now you’re dress’d
  Says little Dame Trot,
Puss curtsied and mewed,
  But further said not.

Quaint and unique, this little book aroused my curiosity, so I explored further and found that it had a fascinating story.

The story of Dame Trot and her cat has a two-century-long history, shifting in form and content over the ages, though many versions have identical stories to tell. The pattern that runs through all these though, tracing back to the original 1803 narrative is of a set of rhymes where Dame Trot steps out to run an errand and returns to find her cat doing something silly (source). From playing dead to riding the dog, and even treating herself to the fish Dame Trot had kept for her own meal.

But there are forms of the story where the kitty proves rather a treasure too. In a version that appears on Project Gutenberg, for instance, Dame Trot’s cat is a real little house-cat, making the tea with no damage to the china, and then next morning, having the kitchen swept clean and breakfast waiting. She not only keeps the rats and mice away, she even catches fish for dinner (since Dame Trot has little money to spare) and cooks and presents it too! She has a fancy for fashionable dress though and wishes more than anything for a high chignon hat.

via Project Gutenberg

Over time, different sequels appeared as well, one of which originated with the publisher Harris. In this one, the cat slips out of Dame Trot’s supervision and has a daring night about town. In another, from William Darton, the cat falls in love and goes on to have kittens.

Different variations of the story appeared throughout the nineteenth century, with new rhymes and actions inspired by historical events and contemporary trends. These included appearances by Punch and weaving in of the popular song ‘Go Buy a Broom’. Besides these, some oddball narratives emerged as well taking the story in new directions featuring at times, the original cat’s son, a fairy cat and even the original cat’s kindly care for a neighbouring cat (source).

You can find plenty of these versions online (here are some more links for those interested.

• 1890s and Later – Old Dame Trot (brynmawr.edu)
• 1845 Thomas Goode: Old Dame Trot And Her Comical Cat 1845 Thomas Goode : Thomas Goode : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
• Old Dame Trot and her comical cat (ufl.edu)
• The comic adventures of Old Dame Trot and her cat : correctly printed from the original in the Hubbardonian Library : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
• Several versions at: 1840s and 1850s – Old Dame Trot (brynmawr.edu)

Some copies of Dame Trot are even housed in rare book collections in libraries like McGill. Old Dame Trot and her comical cat : John Bysh, : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Copy in McGill Library’s Rare Books and Special Collections: hand-coloured frontispiece & title-page vignette; 6 half-page, hand coloured illustrations. Marbled wrappers, added later, as are the stiff blue paper mounts for the pages. Osborne – p.94. Adelphi Book Shop. Victoria, B.C. Oct./70. $10.00

Added date: 2013-06-27 15:56:44

Callnumber RBD BOUR PN970 B97 O53 1820 Rare Books/Special Collections – Sheila R. Bourke Collection (McLennan Bldg, 4th floor)

So what started as a quick read of a vintage funny rhyme featuring a lady and her silly cat turned out a trip through time and the story of the various forms this little poem has taken, entertaining various audiences along the way.