Trim, the Cartographer's Cat: The Ship's Cat Who Helped Flinders Map Australia, Hardcover

A fun and quirky gift book about a much-loved ship's cat: Trim, who helped Flinders map and lap Australia.

Trim was the ship's cat who accompanied Matthew Flinders on his voyages to circumnavigate and map the coastline of Australia from 1801 to 1803. Trim, The Cartographer's Cat is a charming ode to the much-loved pet, which will warm the heart of any cat lover. The first part of the book reproduces Flinders' own whimsical tribute to Trim, written while in captivity in the early 1800s, with added "friendly footnotes" to provide some background to Flinders' numerous literary allusions and nautical terms. Next the book discusses where Flinders was when he wrote his tribute and why, and what his letters and journals from that time tell us about his "sporting, affectionate and useful companion." Finally, we learn what Trim's views on all of this might have been, in a fun and fanciful observation on his premature epitaph.

Accompanying this jam-packed fascinating text are beautiful maps, historical photographs, quirky original illustrations by illustrator Ad Long and excerpts from Flinders' original script, showing his beautiful handwriting. This book will make a unique and treasured gift for Flinders fans and cat lovers around the world.

Matthew Flinders RN, an English navigator, cartographer and captain of Investigator, carried out the first circumnavigation of Australia. His A Voyage to Terra Australis, is a story of discovery, achievement and tragedy, self-sacrifice and devotion. While not a best seller back in 1814, a first edition (3 vols) will now set you back about $85,000.00. A household name in Australia, he is also well known amongst maritime history fans in the UK and Europe.

Gillian Dooley is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at Flinders University. She has been studying and writing about Matthew Flinders for nearly two decades, since she became Special Collections Librarian at Flinders University. Philippa Sandall is a writer. Her latest book is Seafurrers, The Ships' Cats Who Lapped and Mapped the World. Ad Long is an illustrator. Girt, the Unauthorised History of Australia by David Hunt was his first stab at history (it's since been followed by True Girt and Seafurrers). He cobbles together images using old photographs, etchings or paintings as a starting point. The idea is to create a picture that looks like it might almost be a record of the actual events in a story... but is very clearly not.