Book excerpt: "Lords of the Housetops" is a carefully chosen collection of thirteen tales about the beloved, clever and charismatic cat. We see the cat through the eyes of thirteen authors, including such famous writers as Mark Twain, Booth Tarkington and Edgar Allan Poe. Carl Van Vechten assembled and edited this collection. Contents: Mary E. Wilkins Freeman: The Cat Guy Wetmore Carryl: Zut Algernon Blackwood: A Psychical Invasion Honoré de Balzac: The Afflictions of an English Cat Booth Tarkington: Gipsy G. H. Powell: The Blue Dryad Mark Twain: Dick Baker's Cat Edgar Allan Poe: The Black Cat Thomas A. Janvier: Madame Jolicœur's Cat W. H. Hudson: A Friendly Rat William Livingston Alden: Monty's Friend Peggy Bacon: The Queen's Cat Charles Dudley Warner: Calvin Alden, W. L. (William Livingston), 1837-1908 Bacon, Peggy, 1895-1987 Balzac, Honoré de, 1799-1850 Blackwood, Algernon, 1869-1951 Carryl, Guy Wetmore, 1873-1904 Freeman, Mary Eleanor Wilkins, 1852-1930 Hudson, W. H. (William Henry), 1841-1922 Janvier, Thomas A. (Thomas Allibone), 1849-1913 Poe, Edgar Allan, 1809-1849 Powell, G. H. (George Herbert), 1856-1924 Tarkington, Booth, 1869-1946 Twain, Mark, 1835-1910 Warner, Charles Dudley, 1829-1900 Livingston Chester Lord (1851 - 1933) was the second president of Eastern Illinois University, serving from 1898 to 1933.