Site Map Search the Catalog Kids Zone Find a Library FAQ Sign Up Contact Us
Home > Bibliographies > Minibibliographies > Books by James Herriot
Content last modified February 1993
The series of autobiographical books by British nonfiction writer James Herriot (pseudonym of James Alfred Wight) focuses on his daily life as a country veterinarian in rural Yorkshire, beginning at the time of World War II. Readers are treated to sensitive descriptions of the author's animal patients and human colleagues and his day-to-day entanglements with both. His experiences range from coping with calves strangling in birth to dealing with a colleague's slapdash bookkeeping. Pervading these anecdotes, whether comic or sad, is the author's fine sense of humor and his celebration of life and nature. Herriot's affirmation of unpretentious, clean living may be a factor in the widespread appeal of his books. Their popularity has led to the adaptation of All Creatures Great and Small into a film and a television series.
Following is a list of the series in chronological order of content as given in Contemporary Authors, volumes 77-80. Additional books are listed that deal with life of the country vet but are not a part of the series. All of the books are available from NLS network library collections.
All Creatures Great and Small
An English veterinarian writes of his work, whether on his back in a stable trying to deliver a calf during a snowstorm or comforting a lonely old man whose only companion, a dog, has died. Bestseller 1972
RC 6096
RD 6096
RD 7387
FD 6096
BRA 13847
All Things Bright and Beautiful
A continuation of the reminiscences of the country veterinarian. These anecdotes take place before World War II, and describe the vet's day-to-day encounters with a cast of unforgettable humans, dogs, horses, lambs, and parakeets. 1974
RC 7387
RD 7387
FD 7387
BR 5041
BRA 13650
All Things Wise and Wonderful
Also published as Vet in a Spin. Inducted into the Royal Air Force in World War II, the vet longs for his family, the rural countryside of his home in Yorkshire, and the joys of practicing veterinary medicine. Through a series of flashbacks, he expresses his feelings a but his wife and child and relates some comic and sad anecdotes about the animals he has treated. 1977
RC 11120
FD 11120
BR 3878
BR 5779
The Lord God Made Them All
World War II is over, and the vet has returned to his family and his practice in Yorkshire. Life is back to normal except for the expedition that takes him behind the Iron Curtain to look at veterinarians on a real live animal farm. 1981
RC 15864
FD 15864
BR 4945
It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet
After a year in veterinary practice, young James Herriot is still running into trouble with the unpredictable nature of his animal patients. 1972
BR 3363
The Best of James Herriot: Favorite Memories of a Country Vet
More than fifty chapters from Herriot's collected works tell the story of his hesitant days as a novice veterinarian, the quaint beauty of Yorkshire, and his joys and tribulations as a husband and father. 1983
RC 19238
FD 19238
Only One Woof
A sweet but silent sheepdog, who does not bark, is reunited, with surprising results, with an old friend from puppy days--his brother. 1985
RC 24632
The Christmas Day Kitten
Debbie, a mysterious stray cat who often visits at Mrs. Pickering's house, brings Mrs. Pickering the best Christmas present she ever had. 1986
BR 7107
James Herriot's Dog Stories
A collection of fifty dog stories from the Scottish veterinarian and master storyteller of Yorkshire. Whether treating Mrs. Pumphrey's pampered Pekingese Tricki Woo, saving a dog's badly mangled leg without antibiotics, or ducking out of the Daffodil Ball with future-wife Helen, Herriot's reminiscences are warm and cheery. Bestseller 1986
RC 23911
FD 23911
Compiled by Ellie Friedman
Revised by Joyce Y. Carter
Library of Congress Home
NLS Home
Comments about NLS to nls@loc.gov
About this site
Comments about this site to nlswebmaster@loc.gov
Posted on 2006-02-24