What are your favorite coffee table books? The ones that really elevate your table. Any topics welcome!

I’m thinking of gifting friends and family this year coffee books which fit them! I have those who like golf, cars, coffee, travel, art, etc!

Question

What are your favorite coffee table books? The ones that really elevate your table. Any topics welcome!

I’m thinking of gifting friends and family this year coffee books which fit them! I have those who like golf, cars, coffee, travel, art, etc!

Andrea · Answer

What the Bees See: The photos in this book are so captivating!

sunset strip mall · Answer

Dear Data by Giorgia Lupi and Stefanie Posavec: this book is a compilation of postcards sent between two artists highlighting different data about their lives each week: doors, complaints, clocks, indecision ... just so aesthetically satisfying and inspiring, and written with a lot of love and joy. an ode to friendship, above all else!

Dylan · Answer

Greetings From Sweden - Ruvan Wijesooriya: purchased many years ago on one of my trips to visit my brother in sweden & it reminds me of how it feels to be back in that part of the world. i love this cover <3

Dylan · Answer

Northside by Warren Kirk (2020): such a beautiful photographic archive of some iconic people and places (some now sadly long gone) in my local neighbourhood. a special coffee table piece for northside Naarm lovers.

from the blurb:

From the photographer behind Westography and Suburbia, with an introduction by Christos Tsiolkas.

From West Brunswick to Reservoir, Fitzroy to Hadfield, Warren Kirk turns his keen eye upon the streets, buildings, and inhabitants of Melbourne’s northern suburbs, which are as iconic as they are rapidly changing. Both a tribute to the things we remember and a reminder to look anew at the world around us, the photos in Northside are a triumph of craft from an artist who invites us to really see.

Rachael · Answer

Audobon’s Birds of America: Not sure how big your coffee table is 😅 this is a hefty one.

Laura Messersmith · Answer

Nurture by Carole Bamford, Daylesford Farm: Part travel, part cookbook, part gardening book this is like a little stay-cation trip to the Cotswolds as told by Daylesford Farm founder Carole Bamford.

Gorgeous photography and a cozy little read to accompany a cup of tea by the fire.

Sarah · Answer

Menu Design in Europe: A more unique / niche topic for a coffee table book. A good one to have open on a bookstand, too!

Amu Killada · Answer

A Quiet Greatness Book Set: Highly recommended coffee table book if you like vintage cars and Japan.

Amu Killada · Answer

Dog Only Knows: The Dog Portraits of Alison Friend (Alison Friend): My favorite coffee table book, funny portraits of dogs.

Eric F · Answer

Oregon I, II, or III by Ray Atkeson 🦫: I saw these coffee table books all the time growing up in Oregon, in family and friends’ homes. I think I should collect them for posterity, and to inspire Texas friends to visit.

Janet Wallace · Answer

Louvre: All the Paintings: I have this on my coffee table. It includes every painting on exhibit in the permanent collection (3,022 works!). An excellent brick of a book. Currently on big sale.

Sarah Schneider · Answer

Justine Kurland’s Girl Pictures: A lovely, evocative photography collection of, in Justine’s words, “an army of teenaged runaways in resistance to patriarchal ideals.” Girls free and wild on the fringes, in the wilderness, creating community. I love flipping through this one.

Willa · Answer

CCCP - Cosmic Communist Constructions Photographed by Frédéric Chaubin : This is the coffee-table book to end all coffee-table books. It's massive and fascinating, both a documentary window into a different world and inspiration for travel. The cover design and title is also super clever, as CCCP looks like СССР (Союз Советских Социалистических Республик) aka USSR.

Read if you like pictures of Soviet Bloc architecture.

pairofgeese · Answer

Lee Miller Photographs: Her work ranges from fashion, experimental, travel, documentary, and war photography. Not only are the photographs incredible on their own, it’s amazing to see how her work evolved through her life.

Roger · Answer

The Work of Art: Insightful book of interviews with some very cool artists about the work involved in making art in many disciplines (writing, painting, sculpture, music, etc) by Adam Moss former editor of New York Mag and Seven Days (IYKYK). Those are Proust’s cross outs on the cover. Often features art-in-progress visuals of the works discussed.

Lee Baird · Answer

Apartamento Magazine Subscription: not a book per se, but each issue is gorgeous, relatively hefty, and deeply flip-through-able, which i value in a coffee table piece.

Amy · Answer

Paul McCartney’s Eyes of the Storm: I love looking through the pages and watching the photos go from black and white to full color. If you have a chance, check out the incredible exhibit if it travels to a city near you.

Clara · Answer

JMW Turner The 'Skies' Sketchbook (David Blayney Brown): This was the one thing I asked my parents for Christmas one year. (You can easily get it stateside, too.)

Clara · Answer

Agnes Martin (Frances Briony & Morris Fer): I don’t keep it on my coffee table personally but I think this book is just so gorgeous. I adore Agnes Martin’s work generally.

Abby Phoenix · Answer

Accidentally Wes Anderson: It’s beautiful, whimsical, and also inspires travel wanderlust. The original popular website/Instagram account has no association with Wes Anderson, but they got him to write the intro to this when the book came out. It’s a delight!