Felis libris

[TexasTowelie]

DEAR TUKI: I recently heard of a species of cat that I’m not familiar with. What can you tell me about felis cattus bibliotheca? Is this a new breed? Is it domestic or wild? Where do you find these unusual cats?

Cat Fancier

DEAR CAT FANCIER: Although felis cattus bibliotheca is a fairly rare animal, it has an ancient and revered history. Also called felis libris, this cat is best known by its everyday name, the library cat.

The first known cat to have accepted a working position in a library was a feline named Myeo. She lived in the royal library of Alexandria, Egypt, before 282 B.C., under head librarian Demetrius of Phalerum. In ancient times, manuscripts were fragile scrolls of papyrus, stacked haphazardly on shelves. The papyrus attracted mice and rats and it was the job of the assistant librarian to keep the rodents from damaging the scrolls. As you can imagine, this was a very frustrating job.

At that time, there was a sub-librarian named Petsis, who was in the habit of going fishing along the Nile after work. During his fishing expeditions, he became friends with a small cat. He named her Myeo. Soon enough, she followed him home, then to his work at the Alexandria library. That is where she proved her true worth.

Read more: http://www.newportri.com/newportdailynews/columns/advice_on_pets/advice-on-pets-cats-have-a-long-history-at-libraries/article_f5c13c5b-df69-52a4-93c2-556148cb1222.html

[longship]

1. One wonders if Hypatia had a felis libris or two.

I would like to think that she did.
R&K

[okasha]

3. I'm quite sure she did.

The tradition continued. A few centuries later, an Irish monk who worked in the scriptorium of his monastery wrote a poem about his cat Pangur Ban.

And how are you doing up there in the Frozen North? Here in the Rio Grande Valley, it's febrero loco, with high temperatures ranging from 90's to 60's from day to day.

[shenmue]

2. Cats are cool