15 Coffee Table Books to Upgrade Their Space (or Yours) This Season

In celebration of the 40-year partnership between Michael Jordan and the his namesake Nike brand, this gorgeous book pays fitting tribute. An exploration of how the icon and the footwear and apparel maker redefined athlete-and-brand partnerships, style and culture — on and off the court. Ad spreads, day-in-the-life portraits of M.J., celebrity fans, sneaker designs straight out of the R+D lab…it’s all here in white, black and red.

For the person in your life who knows a thing or two about sophisticated wristwear, Ultimate Collector Watches celebrates the craft of watchmaking by way of 100 of the most famous and desirable timepieces ever made. That includes household names like Rolex and Patek Philippe to pieces from if you know you know watchmakers like George Daniels and Kari Voutilainen. Most will never get the chance to actually own these watches on, but poring over this two-volume set is the next best thing.

“You’ve never seen them like this” is a photographic cliché, but in the case of Intimate, it’s actually true. This 272-page peek into forever icon Brigitte Bardot’s life features photographs that were discovered in the attic of Jicky Dussart, a photographer and close friend of the French actress and style muse. It’s a rare, deeply personal portrait, one that could just as easily never have come to light.

Skip the trendy cocktail books and get the bible: over 300 recipes from the legendary barman Frank Meier, who skipped off to the Ritz Paris during Prohibition when he could no longer ply his trade in New York. Now, his recipes, tips and tricks live in an art deco-inspired collection published by Rizzoli. From sours to slings, it’s all in here, so make sure the bar cart is stocked ahead of time.

The ‘90s saw the height of the supermodel and the evolution of the fashion magazine, and Pamela Hanson was the photographer at the center of it all. You may not know her name, but you know her subjects: Christy Turlington, Linda Evangelista, Milla Jovovich. If they were an “it girl” of the ‘90s, Hanson photographed them. And now, those images have been collected into a nostalgia bomb just waiting to go off.

You can’t write the history of automobiles without Ferrari, and you certainly can’t write the history of automobile racing without the Prancing Horse. To compile this gorgeous and meticulous tome about the automaker and its racetrack legacy, not only were the Ferrari archives plundered, but private collections were tapped as well. Warning: spending $150 now will lead to daydreams of spending many, many thousands of dollars more.

This debut book from visual artist Danielle Mckinney is an art project in itself. Yes, it collects 50 of her own evocative, celebrated paintings of Black women at rest, but there’s another layer: these are paired with prompts written by her mother, Barbara, which promote self-reflection. A journal within the book allows the reader to act on those prompts, allowing for not just a more robust understanding of the person behind the brush, but hopefully greater inner understanding, too.

What do Winston Churchill and Salma Hayek have in common? They were, apparently, both bewitched by the beauty of La Mamounia, a hotel in Morocco that dates back over a century. You could fly across the world to partake in its splendors, or you could indulge in the zellige tilework, grand archways and lantern-lit alcoves in this sumptuous 208-page ode to one of the world’s great hotels.

When legendary photographer Annie Leibovitz released the portrait collection Women in 1999, it was a sensation. Now, 26 years later, it’s finally complete: a two-volume masterwork featuring more than 250 portraits spanning 30 years. Intimate sessions with icons ranging from Joan Didion to Elizabeth Taylor to Serena Williams are paired with essays from Gloria Steinem, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Leibovitz’s late partner Susan Sotang in an evolving, engrossing depiction of womanhood through the years.

If you didn’t live it yourself, you at least know the stories of New York City in the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s: when subways were plastered not with sleek DTC ads but with raucous graffiti, when hip-hop was born in the Bronx and exploded across the city while lines snaked outside disco nightclubs, when the Black Power movement rose up alongside Pride. It’s a time that cannot be contained, so I Hear Music in the Streets embraces the chaos: eight themes are explored through dozens of photographers back when you could hear the hum of counterculture throughout the boroughs.

Does the name Charles “Teenie” Harris ring a bell? Instead of reaching for books celebrating the big-name photographers, consider picking up this illuminating survey that’ll introduce you to lesser-known Black photojournalists and the groundbreaking work they created from the ‘40s through the ‘80s. From pivotal junctures in the civil rights movement to poignant moments from everyday life, this catalog, published in conjunction with an exhibit at the Carnegie Museum of Art, elevates a vital slice of history.

One of the most prominent figures in modern photography, Brazilian documentarian Sebastião Salgado’s work captures humanity in its most stripped-down forms. From photo stories detailing the lives of manual laborers to those escaping natural disasters to those who chose to escape more modern forms of civilization, flip through nearly 40 years of his best work and come out the other side changed.

For a 266-year-old beer, Guinness is surprisingly relevant — from splitting the G to Netflix’s House of Guinness, the ruby red stout seems to be omnipresent. Now, you can see the physical footprint of that legacy: a tour of more than a dozen palaces, estates and mansions owned by the family over the years.

Meet Salehe Bembury, the name behind some of the most iconic sneaker brands in the world. From New Balance and Puma to Versace and Crocs, this collection details Bembury’s rise through the footwear industry through personal designs, sketchwork, renderings and photography.