The 28 Best Coffee Table Books to Gift or Keep

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Whether you are buying a book for someone who has just bought a house, or you are looking for a gift for your best friend, the coffee table book meets any need. niood has compiled a list of the 28 Best Coffee Table Books to buy and keep or give away.

1. ASSOULINE Gstaad Glam by Geoffrey Moore hardcover book

This icy-blue hardcover book is penned by Geoffrey Moore – the restaurateur who spent his childhood in Gstaad with his father, the late actor Roger Moore. Published by Assouline, it celebrates the ski resorts, food spots, boutiques and festivals of the upscale resort town in the Swiss Alps. It will make a lovely gift for those who escape to snowy mountains at every opportunity.

2. ASSOULINE Marrakech Flair by Marisa Berenson hardcover book

Assouline’s Marrakech Flair celebrates the rich cultural history of the North African city. This beautifully presented tome captures everything from the colorful sandstone architecture of the “Ochre City’ to the bustling Jemaa el-Fnaa square and its tantalizing markets brimming with local delicacies to try and treasure troves to explore. A destination that has attracted icons like Yves Saint Laurent, Mick Jagger and Talitha Getty, the wonders are depicted in the most beautiful photographs that you’ll want to pore over for hours.

3. ASSOULINE New York by New York book

The city so nice, they named it twice. With a DNA that comes from all over the world, New York is a wonderfully unique place and with such a strong cultural personality, it only deserves a book. Revealing New York through the expert eyes and iconic images of leading photographers, together with texts and quotes from top writers, it’s a treasured piece for any lover of The Big Apple.

4. ASSOULINE St. Tropez Soleil by Simon Liberati hardcover book

The legend of St. Tropez starts with a dog, a rooster, and a martyr; and it leads to movie stars, world-renowned artists and distinguished writers. Located on the sparkling French Riviera, St. Tropez has enjoyed the spotlight for more than half a century, for better or worse, with celebrities flocking to this idyllic locale for its beaches and a dose of Mediterranean sun. A picturesque oasis, St. Tropez has served as inspiration for a who’s who of notable writers from Françoise Sagan to Colette; as well as renowned artists Paul Signac and Henri Matisse; and even filmmakers. However, St. Tropez would not be the same without then belle du jour Brigitte Bardot, her films and lovers and many other famous couples including Annabel and Bernard Buffet and Bianca and Mick Jagger. 

5. TASCHEN Virgil Abloh. Nike. ICONS

Bringing together all the greats—from Air Jordan 1 to Air Presto—Nike and Virgil Abloh reinvented sneaker culture with the collaborative project The Ten and redesigned 10 sneaker icons. Experience engineering ingenuity and Abloh’s investigative design process: each shoe is a piece of industrial design, a readymade sculpture, and a wearable all at once. The artful Swiss bindingshowcases an open spine, reflecting Abloh’s deconstructive vocabulary and disclosing the production of ICONS.

6. TASCHEN Helmut Newton. SUMO. 20th Anniversary Edition

The Helmut Newton SUMO was a titanic book that towered above anything previously attempted. Twenty years later, we celebrate the legacy of this publishing venture in an XL edition, the result of a project conceived by Helmut Newton and revised by his wife June. Gathering 464 images and a new booklet that takes us through the making of the SUMO, it’s a spectacular tribute to the larger-than-life photographer.

7. TASCHEN Zaha Hadid. Complete Works 1979–Today. 2020 Edition

From Olympic venues to a world-class airport, this monograph gathers the complete works of the first female architect ever to win the Pritzker prize and one of the greatest architects of the 21st century: Zaha Hadid. Photographs, in-depth texts, and Hadid’s own drawings trace her integrated universe of building, furniture, and interior design, including the astonishing Port House in Antwerp.

8. TASCHEN Peter Lindbergh. On Fashion Photography

Follow Peter Lindbergh across four decades of pioneering fashion photography. Through countless collaborations with the most venerated names in fashion, the German photographer created new narratives with his humanist approach, which resulted in iconic shots at once introspective and appealing. This book features more than 300 images, many previously unpublished, as well as an updated introduction in which Lindbergh establishes his sentiment on “so-called fashion photography”.

9. TASCHEN Jean-Michel Basquiat

Get up close to the bold brushwork and scribbled words of Jean-Michel Basquiat, one of the most successful artists of his time. This XXL-sized monograph gathers Basquiat’s major works in pristine reproduction. Texts by editor Hans Werner Holzwarth and curator and art historian Eleanor Nairne introduce us to a legend synonymous with 1980s New York.

10. ASSOULINE Miami Beach by Horacio Silva hardcover book

Assouline’s Miami Beach is a love letter to the palm tree-lined Floridian city. Penned by Horacio Silva, it’s filled with glossy images, quotes and anecdotes that bring to life the metropolis’ hotspots, both old and new – we’re talking the Ritz Carlton of the ’50s, the legendary Art Basel fair and the white sands of lively South Beach. Display it on your coffee table with other colorful titles in the series.

11. PHAIDON Interiors (Orange Edition): The Greatest Rooms of the Century

Phaidon’s Interiors: The Greatest Rooms of the Century is a celebration of residential interior design and decorating. Now available in a stunning green cover, the book features everything from chateaux, town houses, and penthouses – to desert ranches, beach houses, and tiny apartments in more than 25 countries. With 400 rooms organised by designer from A– Z, the book goes beyond decorators, designers and architects to highlight exquisite interiors designed by fashion designers, artists, style icons and film stars, each of whom has made a unique contribution to the world of interior design.

12. Chanel Catwalk: The Complete Collections

Escape to one of the world’s leading fashion houses with this luxury book from Thames & Hudson. Written by Alexander Fury and Adélia Sabatini, it boasts a complete overview of Karl Lagerfeld and Virginie Viard’s iconic creations for Chanel. Featuring over 180 collections with original catwalk photography, this impossibly chic book is a must have addition to your coffee table.

13. ASSOULINE Hamptons Private by Dan Rattiner hardcover book

Assouline’s Hamptons Private grants you unprecedented access to the grandiose waterfront estates, storied polo clubs and exclusive white sandy beaches that are frequented by the likes of Beyoncé, Gwyneth Paltrow and Sarah Jessica Parker. Lovingly curated by Dan Rattiner – who’s lived on the island since he was a teenager – it’s filled with over 200 images depicting the locales lush greenery and famous lobster roll eateries. Flip through the pages for anecdotes and quotes.

14. Architectural Digest at 100: A Century of Style

Architectural Digest at 100 celebrates the best from the pages of the international design authority. The editors have delved into the archives and culled years of rich material covering a range of subjects. Ranging freely between present and past, the book features the personal spaces of dozens of private celebrities like Barack and Michelle Obama, David Bowie, Truman Capote, David Hockney, Michael Kors, and Diana Vreeland, and includes the work of top designers and architects like Frank Gehry, David Hicks, India Mahdavi, Peter Marino, John Fowler, Renzo Mongiardino, Oscar Niemeyer, Axel Vervoordt, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Elsie de Wolfe.

15. ASSOULINE Aspen Style

What began as a small mining camp during the Colorado Silver Boom of the late nineteenth century has since become the preferred getaway of the world’s elite. Treasured for what’s above ground rather than below, Aspen, Colorado has a storied history almost as dense as the directory of A-listers who have adopted the jewel of Pitkin County as their second home, or who have settled in its slopes indefinitely.

16. BARNES AND NOBLE Hotel du Cap Eden Roc: A Timeless Legend on the French Rivieria

The hotel will commemorate its milestone birthday this spring with a coffee-table book, Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc: A Legend on the French Riviera, to be published by Flammarion in May in the U.S. The book features 300 pages of historical anecdotes and iconic images, from Jacques Henri Lartigue’s moody shots at the opening of the Eden-Roc restaurant in 1920 to Slim Aarons’s famous pool scenes and portraits of John Lennon and Yoko Ono posing near the rocks in 1970.

17. PHAIDON – Annie Leibovitz: Portraits 2005-2016

Annie Leibovitz: Portraits 2005-2016 is the photographer’s follow-up to her two landmark books, Annie Leibovitz: Photographs, 1970-1990 and A Photographer’s Life, 1990-2005. In this new collection, Leibovitz has captured the most influential and compelling figures of the last decade in the style that has made her one of the most beloved talents of our time. Each of the photographs documents contemporary culture with an artist’s eye, wit, and an uncanny ability to personalize even the most recognizable and distinguished figures.

18. ASSOULINE Vital Voices by Alyse Nelson and Gayle Kabaker hardcover book

Vital Voices, edited by Alyse Nelson and illustrated by Gayle Kabaker, documents the stories of 100 women who are using their power to make a difference. This hardcover book includes portraits of some of the world’s most influential public figures, as well as first-person narratives that explore their activism, leadership and fight for equality. Discover the perspectives of everyone from Tarana Burke to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg.

19. ASSOULINE St. Moritz Chic

Nestled in Switzerland’s alpine Engadin Valley, St. Moritz stands on its own amidst a sea of celebrated ski resorts in that it has long maintained an elusive allure. The winter home of personalities from Gunter Sachs and Gianni Agnelli to Sofia Loren, Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn, John Lennon, and Claudia Schiffer, there are few places in the world that manage to unite so many of the top names in cinema, art, and fashion all in one place, year after year.

20. Slim Aarons: Women

Slim Aarons: Women explores the central subject of Slim Aarons’s career―the extraordinary women from the upper echelons of high society, the arts, fashion, and Hollywood. The book presents the women who most influenced Aarons’s life and work―and the other remarkable personalities he photographed along the way, including Audrey Hepburn, Jackie Kennedy, Diana Vreeland, and Marilyn Monroe, all featured in unforgettable photographs. The collection contains more than 200 images, the majority of which have not appeared in previous books, along with detailed captions written by one of Aarons’s closest colleagues.

21. ASSOULINE Cartier Panthère book

Silently stalking its way through Cartier iconography for a century, the panther is the proud leader of the pack of precious animals that make up the famous Cartier menagerie. No other creature or jewel is quite so indissolubly and emotively connected to outstanding 20th-century women of style, to ideals of modern femininity, and has become Cartier’s most iconic motif for a century. A symbol of power, seduction, and triumph since ancient times, the image of the panther never fails to arouse fantasies and dreams.

22. TASCHEN Keith Haring

Keith Haring spent little more than a decade in the spotlight, but in his singular blend of street art, graffiti, a Pop sensibility, and cartoon elements, he created stalwarts of modern pop culture as much as vivid social and political statements. From his first subway drawings through to his Pop Shop in SoHo, this concise introduction explores Haring’s innovation and activism at the heart of the 1980s New York art scene.

23. Tom Ford

Tom Ford has become one of fashion’s great icons. In the past decade, he transformed Gucci from a moribund accessories label into one of the sexiest fashion brands in the world. His designs have increased sales at Gucci tenfold and have helped build the Gucci brand into the luxury goods conglomerate that it is today. Ford brought a hard-edged style synonymous with 21st century glamour to his clothes, and Hollywood sat up and took note.

24. ASSOULINE The French Riviera in the 1920’s

The French Riviera was the center of creativity during the 1920s and early ’30s. Artists and writers from the far reaches of the world gathered to fashion a new way of life—among them Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Gerald and Sara Murphy, Picasso, Picabia, Stravinsky, Cocteau, Diaghilev, and Anna de Noailles. A photobiography of this carefree era, The French Riviera in the 1920s revitalizes the now-legendary tale of these mythic personalities caught between a desire for creation, the quest for happiness, and the looming darkness of World War II. With extraordinary images taken from personal archives, these pages depict firsthand the lifestyles and artwork of some of the most influential artists o f the 20th century.

25. Eat, Drink, Nap: Bringing the House Home

If you’re looking for inspiration for interior design, party hosting or catering, this stylish lifestyle guide is perfect… a fascinating look behind the closed doors of this celebrated private member’s club ― Seven Days Sunday Mail

26. ASSOULINE The Big Book of Chic

An internationally acclaimed interior design sensation, Miles Redd is known for his quirky brand of cozy glamour. This lavishly illustrated volume features a diverse selection of his unique interiors, an inspiration to anyone interested in spirited, eclectic design.

27. Poolside With Slim Aarons

Slim Aarons is regarded as one of the most influential magazine photographers of his generation. His photographs appeared in many magazines, including Holiday, Town & Country, Life, Look, Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue and Travel & Leisure. His first book A Wonderful Time is considered a classic. His book Once Upon a Time was published to great acclaim in 2003.

28. Slim Aarons: La Dolce Vita (Getty Images)

This lavish fourth volume in Abrams’ Slim Aarons collection revels in his longtime love affair with Italy. From breathtaking aerials of the Venetian canals and Sicilian countryside to intimate portraits in the villas and estates of celebrities and the beautiful people, Slim’s photography captures the essence of the good life of the rich and famous of Italy. Italy undeniably held a special place in Slim’s heart. As a photographer for Yank magazine, he witnessed the Italian campaign during World War II and was present at the liberation of Rome. Later, after the war, he abandoned Hollywood to travel to Rome as a photographer for Life magazine.