New Books for the New Year: Elliott Erwitt: DogDogs

500 wet noses, 2000 paws, fur galore, and one late, great English satirist’s prose peek from the pages of this reissue of the Magnum photographer’s most-loved book.

Elliott Erwitt’s love of dogs began in the mid-1940s when, as a lonely teenager growing up in Hollywood, California, he adopted a shabby, but exceptionally smart and sensitive mutt with a life threatening illness. Old Terry, as Erwitt called him, eventually pulled through.

“His physical appearance declined further during the convalescence, but his intelligence grew,” the late Magnum photographer recalls in our newly re-published book, DogDogs. “I guess suffering humbles and enriches. He was one loveable mess.”

Ballycotton, Ireland, 1968. © Elliott Erwitt / Magnum Photos

First published by Phaidon in 1998, DogDogs is a classic and much-loved collection of photographs by the legendary Magnum photographer. Since its original publication the book has sold over 300,000 copies in multiple languages.

Over three dog years later, a new generation of dog lovers can now get their paws on a reissue of this timeless compendium of canine companions.

Amagansett, NY, USA, 1967. © Elliott Erwitt / Magnum Photos

It’s packed with 500 witty, heartwarming images taken over 50 years; from Poodles strutting their stuff at dog shows, Golden Retrievers chasing sticks in the park, to Highland Terriers jumping for joy. And let's not overlook the Labradors, Pomeranians, and German Shepherds, all making their appearance on beaches, sofas, park benches.

The collection also includes a charming essay by the late English writer and dog enthusiast P.G. Wodehouse, perfectly complementing the images. Wodehouse was a dog-owner himself and an admirer of Erwitt’s work during his lifetime.

Inverness, Scotland, 2011. © Elliott Erwitt / Magnum Photos

“There is not a sitter in Erwitt’s gallery who does not melt the heart,” he writes. “And no beastly class distinctions, either. Thoroughbred or mutts, they are all here.”

Regarded as one of the greatest image makers of his generation, Elliott Erwitt described himself as ‘a professional photographer by trade and an amateur photographer by vocation.’ As an artist and documenter, his camera took him all over the globe and his work spans many traditions, subjects, and approaches to photography.

Paris, France, 1970. Photographs © Elliott Erwitt / Magnum Photos

In a heartfelt piece of writing the French born, US-based photographer, who died in November 2023, explains how the book originally came to be.

“Until recently, I have never especially set out to take dog pictures but somehow dogs appeared in large numbers on my contact sheets. Obviously my sympathy for the creatures was deeper than I had imagined.”

Birmingham, England, 1991. © Elliott Erwitt / Magnum Photos

“Many of the dogs pictured must have looked appealing to me in their exotic settings, other dogs were appealing in reasonably well-composed photographs and some others seem to transcend their easy obvious charm and to have allegorical connotations to us humans and to our human condition.”

“I don’t know of any other animals closer to us in qualities of heart, sentiment and loyalty,” Erwitt adds. “In the end this is not a book of dog pictures but of dogs in pictures.”

You can pre-order DogDogs here. It ships in March.