Essential titles across travel, art, fashion, interiors, and more—timeless books to display and treasure
Coffee table books are an essential element of, well, a coffee table. Piled up in stacks with their colorful and vivid covers, they’re beautiful objects in and of themselves. In a practical sense, they’re an ideal foundation for layering other objects to create height and visual interest.
Given their centrality, the coffee table books you choose to display should be personal to you. When they reflect your interests and passions, you can draw inspiration from them, whether just looking over at them or picking them up to take a flip through.
We curated this selection of coffee table books by interest to help you discover titles that will become your new favorites.
Art & Design
The National Gallery. Paintings, People, Portraits | $200.00
Josef Albers in Mexico | $33.29
John Derian Picture Book II | $60.87
Culture, Fashion, & Photography
Peter Lindbergh. On Fashion. | $19.99
In Peter Lindbergh’s (1944-2019) fashion photography, it is never the fashion, hair, makeup or glamour that takes center stage. Each photograph celebrates the essence and individuality of his subjects which included some of the world’s top models — Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Cindy Crawford among others. Indeed his iconic images for Vogue helped launch the 90’s supermodels. This edition gathers more than 300 images from forty years of Lindbergh’s career.
Swans: Legends of the Jet Society | $195.00
This is my dream coffee tale book to own. This book captures a time when high society was a fantasy of fashion, travel, homes, and parties. It produced so many iconic images and notorious stories of debauchery and decadence. If you’ve ever watched Ryan Murphy’s Feud: Capote vs. The Swans, you got a glimpse into this world, but this book goes deeper into the legends of Lee Radziwill, Babe Paley, CZ Guest, Slim Keith, and more.
Slim Aarons: Style | $52.99
Andy Warhol. Polaroids 1958 - 1987 | $44.99
Before there was Instagram, there was Warhol. Through diary entries and photos, the artist (dates) was an obsessive chronicler of his time. This book amasses decades of instant pictures from still lives to portraits capturing a who’s who of New York society, art, music, sports and Hollywood including Mick Jagger, Grace Jones, Pelé, and Yves Saint Laurent. Several of the photos served as the subject matter for screen prints providing a window into Warhol’s artistic process.
Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty | $37.99
Published to accompany the blockbuster exhibition at the Met Costume Institute, Savage Beauty pays homage to the British fashion designer Alexander McQueen (1969–2010). Essays from the museum’s curators paired with an impressive catalogue of McQueen’s creations trace his trajectory to become one of his generation's most influential, creative and provocative talents. A striking lenticular embodying the book’s title graces the cover. If you couldn’t attend the exhibit, this book is the next best thing — McQueen’s legacy lives on.
Film
Nora Ephron at the Movies: A Visual Celebration of the Writer and Director | $34
Nora Ephron is the trail-blazing writer and director behind When Harry Met Sally, You've Got Mail, Sleepless in Seattle, and more. This book explores the distinctive worlds and characters she’s created through interviews with collaborators and film criticism. A perfect coffee table book for anyone who adores rom coms.
ARCHIVE Sofia Coppola | $64
No contemporary filmmaker is cooler than Sofia Coppola. Her films have a distinctive style, and that extends to this coffee table book, her first, in which the creative visionary and tastemaker charts the course of her oeuvre from The Virgin Suicides and Lost in Translation through to her latest film Priscilla. The book is as creatively put together as her films constructed from a mix of photographs and ephemera and annotated by Coppola throughout. Plus, the bubble gum pink cover makes it particularly beautiful to display.
Homes & Gardens
Vogue Living: Country, City, Coast | $79.76
This book and its sister volume Houses, Gardens, People offer the richest interior inspiration that I return to over and over again. Each of the homes, which belong to fashion and textile designers, photographers, writers, interior and landscape designers, and more, feels personal and collected. They’re places you want to visit, and they stick in your mind long after you’ve closed the pages.
Bunny Mellon Style | $40.49
There are several books and coffee table books covering Bunny Mellon’s life and style, but I think this one is the most definitive. This book charts her evolution into one of the most influential tastemakers and home and garden designers, who is still widely copied today. Peak inside her many homes and gardens around the world which include her storied art collection. If you want to learn what true taste is, read this book.
Outside In: A year of growing and displaying | $22.84
Cooking & Entertaining
Deeda Blair: Food, Flowers, & Fantasy | $37
As one of the last great society swans, Deeda Blair was famous for her entertaining. This book not only stands as a historical document of a bygone era and way of life but also an instructive manual of how to host with grace and style. It includes menus, recipes, table settings, and charming stories about her extraordinarily colorful life.
Cook Beautiful | $17
Is this technically a coffee table book? No, but it is so beautiful as the title suggests it won the James Beard award for Best Photography. So, this is a book you can proudly display on any tabletop or shelf. Did I mention the recipes are also really good? I’ve had this book for more than five years, and I cook from it all the time, including some of my all-time favorite recipes (the Hangar Steak and Paccheri with Pork Ragu).
Martha Stewart: Entertaining | $50
Originally published in 1982, the book that transformed Martha Stewart into a household name is a collector’s item at this point. Get inspired and learn from the Queen of Hosting herself with over 300 recipes and 450 photos documenting a range of celebrations throughout the year.
Travel
Vogue on Location: People, Places, Portraits | $70.00
Ansel Adams in the National Parks: Photographs from America's Wild Places | $26.99
Coffee table books you love provide a great foundation for styling a coffee table. To complete the look, check out these coffee table decor ideas.
You may also be interested in:
SoS Guide to Coffee Table Decor
Every product is independently selected by our curators. Things you buy through our links may earn us a commission.