The Good Stuff

Antonio Mendoza, Untitled, from the Leela Series, 1979

I collect old, mostly out-of-print books about dogs, and since Chris and I are also obsessive used-bookstore prowlers, my collection is growing rapidly.

I found a hardcover recently called The Dog Observed, which contains black-and-white photographs from 1844-1983, taken by mostly famous photographers and edited by Ruth Silverman. It's a really great collection, and the photo above is one of my favorites because it reminds me so much of Arthur, pawing at a bug on the floor with his paw.

Here are just a few others (which are, of course, reproduced much, much better in the book):

Robert Doisneau, Dog on Wheels, Paris, 1977

Henri Cartier-Bresson, Outside a Bistro, 1968/69

Elliott Erwitt, Wyoming, 1953

Georgi Lipskerov, Russian Soldiers in Berlin, c. 1945