John Szarkowski describes The Animals as the most fully realised of Winogrand's four books. In a wry afterword, he writes: 'It is difficult to be sure, on the evidence of the pictures, whether Winogrand likes zoos or not. I am inclined to believe that he does like them - that his appetite and affection for life is so great that even this scarred and crippled version of it is capable of moving him to sympathy... As for the pictures themselves, little can be said except to give thanks. As complex and as simple as ancient parables, they cannot be imagined otherwise... It is not supremely difficult to make a clear picture of a truism, and it is easier still to hold up a mirror to the maelstrom and call it art. But to see and set down with acuity the flickering meanings that illuminate the menagerie we perform in - this is a creative miracle.'

First edition; oblong 4to (215 x 190 mm, 8½ x 7½ in); black-and-white photographs printed in gravure by Conzett & Huber, Switzerland, text by John Szarkowski, design by Donald Munson; photo-illustrated wrappers printed in black and grey, laminate lifting at edges, otherwise very sharp, near-fine; [56]pp.

The Book of 101 Books: Seminal Photographic Books of the Twentieth Century pp192-3; The Photobook: A History I, p257; 802 photo books from the M+M Auer collection p500.