I love receiving coffee table books as gifts as well as gifting them myself. Not only do they help us expand our horizons and give us endless inspiration but they also fill us with knowledge and new perspectives. Some of them are so beautifully designed that they end up enhancing the overall decor in the room. Whether you are looking to grow your collection or for the right gift for a host, we’ve assembled a good selection of our favorite and latest coffee table books for everyone from avid travelers to design lovers.
For Design Lovers
Cabana Anthology, drawn from the sought-after, sumptuous biannual Cabana magazine, celebrates the most luxurious personal statements in interior design, lifestyle, architecture, and all related luxuries. Founded in 2014 by Martina Mondadori Sartogo, Cabana Anthology features the very best photography, interviews, profiles, and features from the publication’s first five formative years
Inspired Design: The 100 Most Important Designers of The Past 100 Years. Most decorating books focus on one designer; the rest focus on one period, one trend, one room. This book, for the first time, has the big picture: ALL the names everybody must know from the entire 100-year history of interior design. Each designer is profiled and illustrated with three to four photographs of their best work; what we can learn from them—and how they changed decorating forever—is highlighted to catch the eye.
Domus: A Journey into Italy’s Most Creative Inteiros. An insider’s tour of the most creative and inspiring rooms belonging to tastemakers—artists, interior designers, craftspeople, collectors, and aristocrats—in Italy today. Italy has been a source of inspiration for generations of artists and lovers of beauty. In this book, Italians Oberto Gili and Marella Caracciolo Chia take us around the country and into the homes of some of its most stylish habitués.
Who are the American Originals? They are photographer William Abranowicz’s pantheon of extraordinary subjects—painters, poets, rock stars, designers, tastemakers, politicians, performers—for whom the home represents the ultimate canvas of self-expression.
For Fashion lovers
Grace: Thirty Years of Fashion at Vogue. The 408-page collection of Grace Coddington’s greatest work as a fashion stylist and sittings editor is not just a monograph of her first 30 years at Vogue, it is also a visual reminiscence of 30 years of British and American Vogue’s best work. The edition includes a special, illustrated and autographed letter by Grace.
Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty examines the full breadth of the designer’s career, from the start of his fledgling label to the triumphs of his own world-renowned London house. It features his most iconic and radical designs, revealing how McQueen adapted and combined the fundamentals of Savile Row tailoring, the specialized techniques of haute couture, and technological innovation to achieve his distinctive aesthetic.
For The Traveler
Showcasing cutting-edge underwater photography from the world’s leading marine and nature photographers, The Life & Love of the Sea is a breathtaking visual tour of the ocean’s great diversity. Readers will experience land meeting sea with images of dramatic coastlines, barrier reefs, and island chains, as well as the spectacular power of the ocean through a stunning collection of wave photographs
Hidden Gardens of Paris: A Guide to the Parks, Squares, and Woodlands of the City of Light. For the seasoned Parisian traveler or the novice looking to get off the beaten track, Cahill provides a roadmap to parts of the city most visitors will never see
For The Gardener
Redoute: The Book of Flowers. French flower painter Pierre-Joseph Redouté (1759–1840) devoted himself exclusively to capturing the diversity of flowering plants in watercolor paintings which were then published as copper engravings, with careful botanical descriptions. The darling of wealthy Parisian patrons including Napoleon’s wife Josephine, he was dubbed “the Raphael of flowers,” and is regarded to this day as a master of botanical illustration.
Peonies: Beautiful Varieties for Home and Garden. From Shawnee Chief to Top Brass, this guide to over 60 varieties of peonies presents an eclectic selection of specimens―from those with the best visual appearance and the most fragrant perfume, to those that are easiest to grow and produce the best cutting flowers. With commentary on each bloom, easy-to-follow growing advice, and glorious photography.
