author

Ike Matthews

1857–1913

Best known for a lively late-Victorian memoir-manual on rat catching, this little-known writer turned practical know-how into a surprisingly vivid slice of everyday urban life. His work mixes trade secrets, animal lore, and street-level observation in a way that still feels distinctive.

1 Audiobook

Full Revelations of a Professional Rat-catcher After 25 Years' Experience

Full Revelations of a Professional Rat-catcher After 25 Years' Experience

by Ike Matthews

About the author

Born in 1857 and dying in 1913, Ike Matthews is known today for Full Revelations of a Professional Rat-catcher After 25 Years' Experience. The book survives through sources such as Project Gutenberg, the Internet Archive, and LibriVox, which present it as his best-known and apparently only widely circulated work.

Rather than writing fiction, Matthews drew on working experience. His book is part how-to guide and part personal account, explaining methods for clearing rats, handling ferrets, and understanding the habits of the animals he dealt with. Modern summaries of the text also connect his account with urban life in places like Manchester, giving it value as a small but memorable record of everyday labor in late 19th-century England.

Very little biographical detail about Matthews is easy to confirm from reliable online sources beyond his dates and authorship of this book. Even so, that single surviving work has kept his name in print, mainly because it offers both practical advice and a vivid glimpse into an unusual profession.