A perfect living room should be comfortable—think an amazing couch that seats several people, cashmere throw pillows and blankets, and candles—and elevated.
To make your living room more interesting, visually and culturally, you can’t go wrong with a stack of fabulous coffee table books. Create a Mezze platter of a stack by including books on travel, style, food, color, fashion, and more.
We’ve done the research and present you with some of the very best coffee table books on the market. Our criteria? Each must be beautiful to look at when it’s closed, sitting amidst a stack, and incredible to flip through.
Behold a world of adventure and beauty in these carefully selected, stunning works of literary art. Get comfortable, grab a cup of hot tea or a gingery margarita, and engage in a few hours of getting lost in the wonderments of the universe. Each book shines with brilliance, so you may need an amazing pair of sunglasses to wear as you flip from cover to cover. ;)
Bonus? Each also serves as an ideal gift to give to any host, new home owner, or loved one.
We’ve arranged them by category, for your browsing pleasure.
Travel
The Assouline travel series is amazing. We advise that you invest in several, but each book is gorgeous and incredible on its own. The Assouline travel collection will take you from the sun-soaked beaches of Ibiza to Paris to Marksesh and beyond. We love that each book comes wrapped in jewel-toned binding—this series will transform your all white living room into a sophisticated, splashy travel experience. These coffee table books are luxurious and gorgeous.
Plan your next adventure or simply take a vacation without leaving the comfort of your favorite bathrobe and cloud-like couch with these books. We’re especially partial to the Marrakech and Paris Chic titles.
A Week Abroad: Marseille by Maison Plage is a stunning vacation in a book that will have you dreaming—if not booking tickets—to the land of beauty and pleasure.
Style
Grace: Thirty Years of Fashion at Vogue is a stunning collection of British and American Vogue's most memorable photographs, taken from from 1972 to 2002, placed alongside writing from beloved fashion editor Grace Coddington. Grace is amazing, and the Phaidon book is at once a monograph and memoir. It spotlights Coddington's work at the major fashion magazine, and is replete with thoughtful forewords written by Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld and Anna Wintour. It’s a celebration of timeless style; a fabulous book for any fashion lover. It’s a book of icons.
Iris Apfel: Accidental Icon is ideal for everyone who loves both fashion and interiors. The 97 year old style icon and eye is at her best in this book, which is filled with a stellar collection of vibrant photographs, clever musings, anecdotes, and more–all through the scope of her incredible and wildly adorable candor and wit. It’s an amusing and inspiring book to flip through, and it’s great looking—making it ideal for placing on your coffee table.
For those who love cooking, family, and fashion, look no further than The Missoni Family Cookbook. The family is adored and best known for their timeless, revolutionary knitwear, but they’re also well known for their love of entertaining. The Missoni dinner parties are some of the most coveted and incredible events at Fashion Week, and the gorgeous Italian food itself is just as impressive. This vibrant cookbook outlines some of the Missoni family's favorite recipes, all of which are collected and curated by Angela Missoni’s son Francesco Maccapani Missoni. It’s a beautiful book to flip through, and it will inspire your recipes, cooking, and sartorial looks. We love Missoni and we love Italian—so this book is an obvious yes.
Food and Drink
We love New York—and we love dining in the city. All the Restaurants in New York is a literary collection of drawings of New York stalwart restaurants including Minetta Tavern, The Grand Central Oyster Bar, and Frankies 457. It’s a great book for guests to flip through—their favorite New York institution may make a cameo.
Les dîners de Gala by Salvador Dali is a stunning coffee table book that any art lover, and any food lover, will adore. It’s a reprint of artist Salvador Dali’s 1973 cookbook, replete with 136 recipes and his own illustrations, inspired by his famously illustrious and fantastical dinner parties that he and his wife, Gala, held at the turn of the 20th century. It’s great for chefs, hosts, and art historians alike.
To inspire your next happy hours, Cocktail Codex: Fundamentals, Formulas, Evolutions, is a fantastic coffee table book that will teach you the fundamentals of mixing cocktails. It’s your time to master beautifully composed classic cocktails.
We’re major fans of chef Yotam Ottolenghi’s coffee table books, including Jerusalem, Plenty, Plenty More: Vibrant Vegetable Cooking from London's Ottolenghi, and Ottolenghi Simple: A Cookbook. Each is beautiful and filled with recipes that feature our favorite food group—vibrant, gorgeous vegetables. The images and words will inspire you and your cooking, and a stack of the books will make your coffee table shine.
Cook This Book by Molly Baz is a playful, splashy book. The young chef loves salt and punchy flavors—think an incredible caesar salad. We’re sold.
Interior Design and Architecture
Oasis: Modern Desert Homes Around the World explores the vastness, light, space, and privacy of stunning homes that are planted amidst desert landscapes The book features classic homes including Georgia O’Keeffe’s home and studio in Abiquiú, New Mexico lesser known beauties including a Solar House in Marfa. It’s a must for those who love the desert.
Living in the Mountains, by Phaidon, offers a glimpse of a world of stunning homes that are set in the mountains, ranging (no pun intended) from Japan to Morocco. It’s an ideal book to give to those who love interior design and travel, as each explores the surrounding natural beauty and the incredible intricacies of stellar architecture and design.
Live Beautiful by Athena Calderone spotlights the tastemaker’s designs—it’s a stunning collection of photographs that spotlight Calderone’s sophisticated, beautiful work in homes across the country.
Interiors: The Greatest Rooms of the Century Book, published by Phaidon Press, is an incredible source of design inspiration. It showcases 400+ stunning rooms that have made a mark in the world of design. Sift through gorgeous spaces that interior decorators, designers, artists, style icons, and even film stars, and more have created and designed for themselves. It’s a wonderful gift for any interior design buff. It’s sort of like a museum of great interior design, in book form.
Art
David Zwirner is a fantastic publisher to look to when it comes to finding amazing coffee table books on incredible artists. The gallery has thoughtful, beautiful books on artists including Ruth Asawa, Paul Klee, Josef Albers, and Lucas Arruda—as well as books on past exhibitions that the gallery has held.
We love the books of writings and works by Donald Judd. The artist transformed the small town of Marfa, Texas, and is a deeply incredible and thoughtful artist. The books come in vibrant shades—yellow, orange, etc—that shine brightly (don’t worry, we have amazing sunglasses that can help you to protect your eyes) and will bring a nice glow to your living room.
Art = Discovering Infinite Connections in Art History from The Metropolitan Museum of Art History is a literary celebration of the Met Museum’s 150th anniversary. This book pulls from the most viewed images in the Heilbrunn Timeline. The result? Images of more than 800 works from the museum’s collection, which are then organized by keywords and themes, making it a total pleasure to flip through or get lost in for hours. Think a trip to The Met, in the comfort of your gorgeous home.
An undiscovered publishing gem? Maison Plage. The small company publishes rare, gorgeous coffee table books. We love the books on Cy Twombley, Irving Penn, and Joan Miro. Redoute: The Book of Flowers, published by Taschen, is a stunning catalogue that showcases the work of French flower painter Pierre-Joseph Redouté. His work is a celebration of the diversity of flowering plants, depicted in watercolor paintings that were later published as copper engravings. The book is a stunning display of some of his most adored works. It’s ideal for anyone who loves gardening, flowers, and art—think a quintessential gift for your tasteful mother.
Miscellaneous
For those who love gardening, Japanese aesthetics, and travel, look no further than The Japanese Garden, in a stunning book—in a shade of emerald green that we love—that will provide you with an experience that’s akin to taking a zen stroll through eight centuries of aspirational garden designs. It’s a relaxing, beautiful book to flip through—an immersion in gorgeous Japanese gardens that you can experience without leaving the comfort of your home.
Ballet: The Definitive Illustrated Story, is a compilation of stories from famous ballet companies, including illustrious celebrations of more than 70 famous dances including The Nutcracker andSwan Lake. It’s beautiful to look at and is a must-have for those who love to attend the ballet.
The Big New Yorker Book of Dogs almost needs no introduction or description: it’s a clever and adorable celebration of two of our favorite things: The New Yorker cartoons and dogs. Really, it’s an ideal coffee table book for anyone who adores these two things—and who doesn’t?