COFFEE TABLE BOOKS

Coffee table books are the ones you leave out on purpose: the design monograph a guest picks up before you've poured the wine or the photography spine that pulls a whole room together. 

Ours are hand-selected in our 17,000-square-foot Cincinnati showroom in Over-the-Rhine because they belong in plain sight. You'll find design and art books, oversized photography volumes, fashion retrospectives, cookbooks that earn a spot on the counter, travel books that carry a bit of somewhere else, and the occasional novel we couldn't put down.

Some celebrate a single designer or photographer. Others gather decades of work into one volume. They're just as beautiful on the table as they are in your hands. We stock them because a good book is still the best gift, the kind that gets shelved and returned to rather than forgotten. 

If you're shopping for someone in particular, start with what they love: design, travel, fashion, photography, or food. The right book usually follows. For gifts beyond books, our Gifts collection has its own mix of finds. And since the shelf shares space with our stationery, the card and the wrapping paper are here, too.

The Best Coffee Table Books, According to Us

The best coffee table books add something to a room long before you open them, then reward a slow read once you do. Here's what's on our shelves and how to choose the right one. 

By Category: Design, Art, Cooking, and Fashion

Every shelf has its own point of view. Some books document a life's work. Others transport you somewhere else, inspire your next room, or make you want to cook.

• Designer coffee table books follow the work of architects, interior designers, and creative studios from the first sketch to the finished project.

• Art coffee table books feature gallery-scale photography, artist monographs, and exhibition collections you'll revisit for years.

• Coffee table photo books showcase landscapes, portraits, travel, fashion, and documentary photography in generous large-format editions.

• Fashion coffee table books trace the designers, photographers, and runway moments that changed the way we see clothes.

• Coffee table cookbooks earn their place through the photography as much as the recipes, the kind you'll read on the sofa long before you turn on the stove. 

Travel books and literature round out the shelf with places and stories worth returning to. 

How to Choose a Coffee Table Book

Start with who's bringing the book home and where it'll live. Large coffee table books make the strongest statement on a wide ottoman or long console, while a slimmer volume feels right on a side table or nightstand. 

Choose the subject that speaks to you or to the person you're buying for: architecture for the renovator, photography for the traveler, and fashion for the one who dresses with intent. Then choose a cover worth leaving on display. A good coffee table book spends as much time out in the room as it does on the shelf.