Billy Whiskers – The Autobiography of a Goat

Billy Whiskers – The Autobiography of a Goat by Frances Trego Montgomery (1902) A very nice, old book—I can’t date it—I don’t think quite as old as the copyright—but still I’m guessing nearly a hundred years old—it was a Christmas present for someone—and read many times over the years—most recently by me! I’m hard on books, but it’s well put together—almost square—a lot of text, a real saga—and also full of excellent line-drawing illustrations—plus 8 to 10 spectacular, full-color, full-page plates on separate glossy pages. You could frame and hang each one of them. I’d never heard of Billy Whiskers, but apparently the series was quite popular—31 books in nearly 30 years—and this is the first one. It starts out with Billy Whiskers, a goat, being bought by a family, after which he chews up everything, eats anything in sight, and generally causes mischief. They sell him—and I’m thinking the whole book is going to be one chaotic goat misadventure after another. But it gets more intense as it goes along. Eventually Billy encounters Nanny, also a goat, they fall in love, are married, have sex—which isn’t graphic—it’s a family book!—but you know what’s going on. But they get separated, and Billy keeps having misadventures, including as a firefighter, and then he’s forced into the circus. He kind of likes the circus, or the performative aspects of it, until he’s treated very badly and kept in a too-small cage—it’s really harrowing! But Billy is always good at escaping—he’s clever, and he can be angry and vengeful. There’s a bit of violence in this book, and dogs don’t always fare so well. But, by the end, I loved Billy Whiskers! Am I going to read all the books in the series? Well, maybe one is enough. I’d kind of like to have a real goat as a pet—though he might eat my Billy Whiskers book!

4.22.25