  Using well-defined selection criteria applied to the LEDA galaxy catalogue we
have constructed a sample of elliptical galaxies that can be taken to lie in
the field. Such criteria can easily be applied to theoretical simulations for
direct comparison with observations. The variation of the number of `isolated'
ellipticals with selection criteria is also investigated. A preliminary study
of the environment of the field ellipticals shows that, in the mean, they are
surrounded by a population of dwarf galaxies, out to projected radii of at
least 500 kpc, with a radial density profile of $r^{-0.6\pm 0.2}$ and a
luminosity function slope of $\alpha \sim -1.8$. The results are compared and
contrasted to the satellite population around isolated spiral galaxies.
