Dogs As I See Them by Lucy Dawson (2015) is a lovely book of drawings. A brief introduction reads “Lucy Dawson’s friendly, sympathetic portraits of dogs so delighted readers of numerous English andAmerican periodicals that they finally were gathered together to make a book.” Ann Patchett’s forward adds the information we need to coalesce this collection of dog sketches. She writes, “Lucy Dawson’s genius...is her ability to draw the personality of every dog she met.” The book is designed to convey an atmosphere of dignity and historical importance with its cream-colored pages. A short paragraph and several sketches accompany each completed drawing. Indeed they are quite nice. Lately, I’ve seen so many excellent portraits of pets that I hesitate to place Lucy Dawson’s work high above them.
