“The Seventh Dog (Phaidon) is a new monograph by American photographer Danny Lyon. Organized chronologically, this artist’s book tells the story of Danny Lyon’s 50-year-career as one of America’s most original and influential documentary photographers. Groundbreaking as a photobook in itself, Lyon tells this story starting in the present day and going back in time to the beginning of his career in the 1960s when he photographed the American civil rights movement and the Chicago bikeriders. Through text and image—color and black-and-white photographs, original photo collages, letters and other ephemera (many published here for the first time), and Lyon’s own writings—this is a story of Danny Lyon’s personal journey as a photographer—a story about photojournalism, the move from film to digital photography, about Lyon’s life and quest as a photographer, and of America.” —Courtesy International Center of Photography (ICP)

Lyon was born in Brooklyn in 1942, and received his bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Chicago in 1963. As a self-taught photographer, Lyon published his first images for the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (Slide 5), and created his first book, The Bikeriders, in 1968. If you don’t have $2,000 lying around for a first edition, The Seventh Dog with it’s 200 photographs (including work from The Bikeriders) may be more your speed at $125. Join Lyon for a free book signing at the International Center of Photography in New York City this evening from 6-8 pm.

On a related note, Lyon was the headliner at the 2014 National Geographic Photography Seminar in January, and remarked about his book publishing:

“It is now 40 years later, and I am still making books. Now I control everything, including the printing, and great expense and time and work is devoted by my publishers and the people that make my books, to do them properly.”

You can read the full transcript of the January 2014 seminar here.