James Herriot Books in Order
39 books are credited to James Herriot, published between 1970 and 2023; 5 of them appeared after James Herriot's death in 1995. The first book is If Only They Could Talk (1970) and the newest is The Wonderful World of James Herriot (2023). Publication order is the reading order below.
- Books
- 39
- Published
- 1970–2023
- Pages on record
- 6,501 in 32 of 39 books
- Reading time
- 108–163 hours
Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 6,501 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 32 of 39 titles with a page count on record.
James Herriot wrote about veterinary practice in the English countryside, mixing memoir, anecdote and animal stories. The catalogue holds 39 titles published between 1970 and 2023, among them All Creatures Great and Small (1972), All Things Bright and Beautiful (1974) and the 2023 collection The Wonderful World of James Herriot. All Creatures Great and Small is the best known sequence, and Herriot also wrote children's books such as Bonny's Big Day. The books are short at a median of 180 pages, and the catalogue is closed.
How many James Herriot books are there?
James Herriot has 39 books, released between 1970 and 2023. 5 of them were published after James Herriot's death in 1995. They include 2 series and 26 titles listed outside any series.
James Herriot Books in Publication Order
The table lists all 39 James Herriot books in the order they were released, with the release year, the page count where one is on record, and how many independent book listings confirm each title. Catalogue data as of September 2026.
- 119702082/4
- 219724372/4
- 3Bonny's Big Day1972 · 32 pages · confirmed 2/41972322/4
- 419722292/4
- 519732512/4
- 619743842/4
- 719742512/4
- 819764482/4
- 919762392/4
- 1019772242/4
- 11Animal Stories, Tame & Wild1979 · 224 pages · confirmed 2/419792242/4
- 12James Herriot's Yorkshire1979 · confirmed 2/41979–2/4
- 13All Creatures Great and Small Annual 19821981 · confirmed 2/41981–2/4
- 1419813732/4
- 15The Best of James Herriot1983 · 542 pages · confirmed 2/419835422/4
- 16Moses the Kitten1984 · 32 pages · confirmed 2/41984322/4
- 17Only One Woof1985 · 32 pages · confirmed 2/41985322/4
- 18Horse & Pony Stories1986 · 400 pages · confirmed 2/419864002/4
- 19James Herriot's Favorite Dog Stories1986 · 176 pages · confirmed 2/419861762/4
- 20The Christmas Day Kitten1986 · 32 pages · confirmed 2/41986322/4
- 21James Herriot's Dog Stories1986 · 426 pages · confirmed 2/419864262/4
- 22Blossom Comes Home1988 · 32 pages · confirmed 2/41988322/4
- 23Greatest Cat Stories1989 · confirmed 2/41989–2/4
- 24The Market Square Dog1989 · 32 pages · confirmed 2/41989322/4
- 25Oscar, Cat-About-Town1990 · 32 pages · confirmed 2/41990322/4
- 261991–2/4
- 271991322/4
- 28James Herriot Story Book1992 · 131 pages · confirmed 2/419921312/4
- 2919923522/4
- 30James Herriot's Treasury for Children1992 · confirmed 2/41992–2/4
- 31James Herriot's Cat Stories1994 · 161 pages · confirmed 2/419941612/4
- 32Seven Yorkshire tales1995 · 83 pages · confirmed 2/41995832/4
- 33James Herriot's Yorkshire Stories1995 · 159 pages · confirmed 2/419951592/4
- 34James Herriot's Yorkshire Village1995 · confirmed 2/41995–2/4
- 35James Herriot's Animal Stories1997 · 142 pages · confirmed 2/419971422/4
- 36Yorkshire Stories1998 · 159 pages · confirmed 2/419981592/4
- 37James Herriot's Yorkshire Revisited1999 · 184 pages · confirmed 2/419991842/4
- 38The Animals at Diamond Woods2009 · 62 pages · confirmed 2/42009622/4
- 39The Wonderful World of James Herriot2023 · confirmed 2/42023–2/4
James Herriot series in order
The series linked below has its own reading-order page.
James Herriot books grouped by series
Each title below is a row in the publication-order table above. None of these groups has a reading-order page of its own on this site.
Smudge in order
2 booksStandalone books
26 books26 James Herriot titles here are not listed as part of any series.
James Herriot Books in Chronological Order
By publication date, the James Herriot books run from If Only They Could Talk (1970) to The Wonderful World of James Herriot (2023), the sequence in the table above. No separate story order is recorded for James Herriot in the book listings this catalogue merges, so publication order is the only order on record.
Do you have to read James Herriot books in order?
You only need to read James Herriot books in order within each series: the books listed here span 2 separate series, and each series has its own publication order.
What order should you read James Herriot books in?
Read them in publication order, starting with If Only They Could Talk (1970), the first All Creatures Great and Small book. It is also the earliest catalogued title.
What is the newest James Herriot book?
The Wonderful World of James Herriot (2023) is the newest James Herriot book released so far.
Is there a new James Herriot book coming?
No next James Herriot book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.
James Herriot at a glance
- Died
- James Herriot died in 1995, according to Wikidata.
- After death
- Books credited to James Herriot are still being published after James Herriot's death in 1995; the newest appeared in 2023.
- Release pace
- James Herriot books have appeared about one a year on average.
- Length
- 6,501 pages across the 32 of 39 books with a recorded length, a median of 180 pages each.
- Busiest decade
- Most James Herriot books, 13 of 39, were published in the 1990s.
What the James Herriot books are about
34 of the 39 James Herriot books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: biography is tagged on 24 of 34. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.
- Biography 24 of 34 books
- Veterinarians 20 of 34 books
- Anecdotes 14 of 34 books
- Herriot, james, 1916-1995 14 of 34 books
- Veterinary medicine 11 of 34 books
- Juvenile literature 10 of 34 books
- Veterinarians, biography 8 of 34 books
- Cats 6 of 34 books
- England 6 of 34 books
- Animals 5 of 34 books
- Dogs 5 of 34 books
- Farm life 5 of 34 books