The starting point for this book is Evelyn Hofers Dublin: A Portrait, which features an in-depth essay by V. S. Pritchett and photos by Hofer, and enjoyed great popularity upon its original publication in 1967. Dublin: A Portrait is an example of Hofers perhaps most important body of work, her city portraits: books that present comprehensive prose texts by renowned authors alongside her self-contained visual essays with their own narratives. Dublin: A Portrait was the last book published in this renowned series. The newly conceived Dublin focuses on the photos Hofer took on behalf of the publisher Harper & Row in 1965 and 1966. In Dublin Hofer repeatedly turned her camera to sights of the city, but mainly to the people who constituted its essence. She made numerous portraitsbe they of writers and public figures or unknown people in the streets. Her portraits give evidence of an intense, respectful engagement with her subjects, who participate as equal partners in the process of photographing.

Born in 1922 in Marburg, Evelyn Hofer grew up in Switzerland and Spain. She completed photographic apprenticeships in Basel and Zurich before studying under Hans Finsler, and in 1946 settled in New York. Hofer's career took a decisive turn with her photos for Mary McCarthy's The Stones of Florence (1959); books on London, Spain, New York, Washington and Dublin followed, as well as Emerson in Italy (1989). In the 1970s Hofer focused on society-related subjects and published photo-essays in Life and the New York Times Magazine. She also photographed public figures, interiors for magazines, and in later life primarily personal subjects. Hofer died in Mexico City in 2009.