R-band surface photometry is presented for 171 late-type dwarf and irregular galaxies. For a subsample of 46 galaxies B-band photometry is presented as well. We present surface brightness profiles as well as isophotal and photometric parameters including magnitudes, diameters and central surface brightnesses. Absolute photometry is accurate to 0.1 mag or better for 77% of the sample. For over 85% of the galaxies the radial surface brightness profiles are consistent with published data within the measured photometric uncertainty. For most of the galaxies in the sample H I data have been obtained with the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope. The galaxies in our sample are part of the WHISP project (Westerbork H I Survey of Spiral and Irregular Galaxies), which aims at mapping about 500 nearby spiral and irregular galaxies in H I. The availability of H I data makes this data set useful for a wide range of studies of the structure, dark matter content and kinematics of late-type dwarf galaxies. Based on observations made with INT operated on the island of La Palma by the Isaac Newton Group in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias. The tables in Appendix A are only available in electronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/390/863. The figures in Appendix B are only available in electronic form http://www.edpsciences.org