The Great Grisby: Two Thousand Years of Literary, Royal, Philosophical, and Artistic Dog Lovers and Their Exceptional Animals

Cultural critic Brottman Hyena examines the bond between human and dog in this “leisurely stroll” through the history of notable dogs and their owners. Dog luminaries include Señor Xolotl, the Mexican hairless dog of Frida Kahlo, who once peed on one of Diego Rivera’s watercolors; Lump, a dachshund immortalized by Picasso; Peritas, the so-called favorite dog of Alexander the Great. Fictional dogs appear as well, like Jip, the naughty spaniel from Charles Dickens’s David Copperfield, as well as the dogs of authors such as Anton Chekhov and poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning. These mini-profiles bleed into meditations on the eponymous Grisby, the author’s own French bulldog and the apple of her eye. In her paeans to her pet, Brottman evokes the joys of dog ownership. Though this is certainly a book for a niche audience, avid dog lovers will relish the digressions into literature and history, as well as the assurance that the love between dog and human can be as deep as any other kind of love. B&w illus. Agent: Betsy Lerner, Dunow, Carlson & Lerner. (Oct.)