20 must-have coffee table books
Books are a classic present, a treasured possession and something that never gets old. If you're stuck this Christmas on what to get your loved ones, here's our list of the must-have coffee table books, old and new, that fill lazy afternoons and decorate the home.
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Monocle Travel Guides
Monocle’s travel books are for the traveller who loves to hit up the coolest spots. The best boutiques, shops, pubs, parks and events are hand picked by the who’s who of each city.
Monocle Travel Guides, £9.99, Amazon
East London Swimmers
This book is a charming documentation of urban swimmers braving the cold and embracing the sunshine in Hackney’s Lido. Photographs of them fully clothed lie alongside them in their swimming gear - be it, cossies, trunks or speedos. Quotes beside each person gives you a humorous and sometimes touching insight into their personal forms of escapism.
East London Swimmers, £12.95,
Amazon
Art Photography Now
With images from 80 of today’s most important practitioners, this book is perfect for anyone who’s interested in contemporary photography. The book is divided into seven sections - portrait, landscape, narrative, object, fashion, document and city - which means you can dive in and out or find a style that really interests you and get to know it from the best in the industry.
Art Photography Now, £19.95, Thames & Hudson
Constructing Worlds: Photography and Architecture in the Modern Age
Constructing Worlds is the follow-up book of last year’s celebrated exhibition of the same name at London’s Barbican. A collection of photographs expertly documenting contemporary architecture, learn about the birth of the skyscraper, the effects of industry in 1960s Europe or the birth of suburbanization. Images are accompanied with essays by curators Alona Pardo and Elias Redstone.
Constructing Worlds: Photography and Architecture in the Modern Age, £28, Amazon
Basquiat
Jean‑Michel Basquiat redefined the 80s New York art scene with his unique brand of graffiti, characterised by his trippy scribblings and mask and skull imagery. Spontaneous, smart and creative, he was the ultimate 80s cool kid – he didn’t care what anyone thought of him, but still attracted an array of celebrity friends including Madonna and David Bowie. Basquiat massively informed today’s graffiti scene, paving the way for other influential artists. Give this to the teenager who thinks they know it all.
Basquiat, £8.99, Amazon
The Great Wide Open: Outdoor Adventure & Landscape Photography
If you’re looking to get a gift for someone who loves the outdoors, The Great Wide Open is a beautiful photographic documentation of the wilderness. Featuring images from all over the world, from Iceland to Mongolia, of forests, mountains, deserts and seas - few books capture “adventure” better.
The Great Wide Open: Outdoor Adventure & Landscape Photography, £45, Amazon
Lives of the Great Photographers
From Irving Penn to Man Ray, Ansel Adams to Walker Evans, Juliet Hacking’s book profiles the people behind the lenses. Revealing the lives of 38 of the most iconic photographers from the 19th and 20th century - you’ll not only understand the photographer’s vision, but how it came to form within the worlds they lived in.
Lives of the Great Photographers, £25.35, Amazon
Dior: New Looks
Dior: New Looks is a master collection of classic and contemporary photographs from the most famous couture house in the world. Each page showcases the brand’s creation from 1940 until today. This is the perfect present for fashion lover in your life.
Dior: New Looks, £65, Amazon
The Earth from The Air
This has been a bestseller for years and there’s yet to be a better way to see an aerial perspective of the Earth. From mountains to deserts, fields to urban landscapes, Yann Arthus-Bertrand’s photographs show the incredibly diverse patchwork of our vast landscape.
The Earth from The Air, £13.80,
Amazon
Humans of New York
Following the phenomenal success of Brandon Stanton’s blog of the same name, his first book is continuing the legacy. In 2010, he set out to document the lives of everyday New Yorkers, publishing a photo of them and an extract of their life story online. Since, he’s amassed a loyal fanbase of almost a million followers. With four hundred colour photos, this hardback reflects just how many walks of lives he’s come across. Not only will you experience a range of emotions leafing through the pages, you’ll realise how completely diverse humanity really is in a city with so much spirit.
Humans of New York, £13.60,
Amazon
Mind the Map: Creative Mapmaking and Cartography
Maps have long been regarded as articles of beauty, whether they’re illustrations penned on a scrap of paper or official orientation documents. Mind The Map is a collection of the best work by a new generation of cartographers. Flip through to see all the different forms maps take nowadays - whether they’re takes on tradition, digital inlays made for modern devices or abstract illustrations. This is the perfect book to curl up with on a lazy Sunday afternoon.
Mind the Map: Creative Mapmaking and Cartography, £40,
Amazon
Columbia Road
Design director at Thames & Hudson as well as an avid photographer, Johanna Neurath's wonderful new book is a photographic documentary of Columbia Road over the last decade. Having ventured almost every Sunday to East London’s most famous flower market, Neurath has captured, not the bouquets, but the beauty that’s left once after the market’s shut down. See the patterns and colours that are left from the strewn flower cups, abandoned coffee cups and cellophane wrapping after the punters plod home.
Columbia Road, £12.95,
Hoxton Mini Press
Gathered Leaves
Documentary photographer Alec Soth’s work primarily focuses on the mundane aspects of Middle America but his cinematic images are majestic. His current exhibition, Gathered Leaves, has received five star reviews and the Telegraph recently described him as the "greatest living photographer of America's social and geographical landscape". This boxset contains images from four of his series - Sleeping By The Mississippi, Niagara, Broken Manual and Songbook - and is a brilliant mid-career retrospective.
Gathered Leaves, £50,
Mack
The Monocle Guide to Cosy Homes
From where to build your house to the furniture you want to put in it, this book is for the friend who loves to live a certain lifestyle. Monocle’s book manages to balances stylish interior and architecture ideas that are both inspirational and practical. Their photographic edit of some of the world’s coolest homes is simply flawless.
The Monocle Guide to Cosy Homes, £36,
Amazon
Cabin Porn
Cabin Porn is for those that love indulging in a little escapism. An entire book that documents log cabins from all around the world, after flicking through the pages, you’ll be trading in dreams of a holiday house on the Riviera for a snow covered, stacked wood hideaway in the middle of the forest.
Cabin Porn, £13.60,
Amazon
Lunch with the FT: 52 Classic Interviews
A few years old now but if you haven’t got Lunch with the FT, it’s a coffee table staple. Documenting 52 of the best interviews since 1994, your guests can find a person that interests them - whether it’s P. Diddy, a royal or a notorious tycoon. You’d be surprised what gets revealed to some of the world’s best columnists over a langoustine.
Lunch with the FT: 52 Classic Interviews, £16.59
Amazon
Google Volume 1
This book is a collation of the first Google image that comes up for every word searched in the dictionary. A fascinating range of 21,100 images side by side - you’ll spend hour browsing through this.
Google Volume 1, £91.20,
Amazon
The Shopkeepers: Storefront Businesses and the Future of Retail
You may think all shopping is done online now but large shopping centers and corporations aside, The Shopkeepers is reminding us just how many incredible independent shops there still are. This book brings you an insight into working life at some of the best brick-and-mortar establishments from Vienna to Vancouver.
The Shopkeepers: Storefront Businesses and the Future of Retail, £40, Amazon
Stephen Shore: Uncommon Places: The Complete Works
First published in 1982, Stephen Shore’s Uncommon Places is regarded as one of the most important photography books of all time. Shore is credited as being among the first artists to use colour photography for something other than advertising or fashion. He is the master of American nostalgia, of capturing moments of banal street scenes and portraits of everyday life in the States. No photography book collection is complete without Uncommon Places.
Stephen Shore: Uncommon Places: The Complete Works, £25.97, Amazon
The Little Book of Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman is one of the most iconic symbols of pop culture and this book contains 192 images of the greatest pictures of her whether they’re from comic books, newspaper strips or TV shows. It makes for the perfect stocking filler.
The Little Book of Wonder Woman, £6.99,
Amazon
