In Homer’s Odyssey, when Odysseus returns home at last to Ithaca, his faithful dog Argos struggles to greet him.

There the dog Argos lay in the dung, all covered with dog ticks.

Now, as he perceived that Odysseus had come close to him,

he wagged his tail, and laid both ears back; only

he now no longer had the strength to move any closer

to his master, who, watching him from a distance, without Eumaios

noticing, secretly wiped a tear away

If dogs in literature bring joy to your heart (and tears to your eyes) then you’ll be in rapture over Dogs In Books: A Celebration of Dog Illustration Through the Ages by Catherine Britton (Mark Batty)

Maria Popova describes the project at Brain Pickings:

The slim but mighty volume chronicles the dog’s inextricable presence in our collective history, art, and mythology through contemporary drawings and rare archival illustrations of more than 30 famous dogs culled from the British Library’s collection…Alongside each image is a short essay that contextualizes the dog and its cultural significance, as well as the history of the illustration itself.

And here’s a slideshow teaser of the what’s inside: