The coffee table book is the rare gift that works as both a reference and a design object, the kind of piece that lives out in the open and says something about whoever owns it. With the holidays here, this guide gathers 10 of the best, spanning whatever the person on your list is passionate about. There are luxe Assouline and Taschen volumes covering sneakers and sports, from Air Jordan to Basketball and Football: The Impossible Collection, alongside deep dives into art, fashion, and music, including Basquiat, Dior, Louis Vuitton’s Virgil Abloh era, and a $2,000 Ultimate Edition tribute to Jay-Z. With picks running from accessible to genuine splurge, here are the best coffee-table books to gift this holiday season, available on Complex.
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Rafa Nadal (Classic)
Price: $120
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Rafa Nadal won twenty-two Grand Slam titles, fourteen of them at Roland-Garros, and this ASSOULINE book is billed as the first comprehensive visual biography of the champion. Made with his full participation, it pulls three decades of images, many never before published, from the private collections of Nadal, his family, and his inner circle. Jon Wertheim, whose Strokes of Genius chronicled the 2008 Wimbledon final against Roger Federer, wrote it. Federer, King Felipe VI of Spain, wife Mery Perelló, and coach Toni Nadal add reflections.
Basquiat: The World of Jean-Michel
Price: $1,400
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Jean-Michel Basquiat's practice ran through Heads, New York City's energy, silkscreens, the Blue Ribbon series, and collaborations with Andy Warhol, and this ASSOULINE book is organized around those threads. Rare archival photographs catch him mid-creation and show works in progress next to finished paintings, some since destroyed or lost. Handwritten notes from Keith Haring and Robert Rauschenberg join them. Red Skull (1982) fronts the hardcover, produced with art dealership ColourThemes and housed in a clamshell modeled on painter's canvas.
The Book of HOV: A Tribute to Jay-Z (Ultimate Edition)
Price: $2,000
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From July to December 2023, the Brooklyn Public Library hosted The Book Of HOV: A Tribute, an immersive JAY-Z exhibit that drew more than 600,000 visitors. ASSOULINE's book commemorates the show across eight chapters, each titled with a phrase from his lyrics, with nearly 700 images and essays on his artistry, entrepreneurship, and activism. Thousands of archived objects appear, from original recording masters and stage wear to awards and unseen photographs. This Ultimate Edition comes in a matching clamshell case in "JAY-Z blue."
Air Jordan (Classic)
Price: $123
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Michael Jordan and Jordan Brand have been partners for 40 years, and this ASSOULINE volume is the first authorized book to celebrate that run. Its six chapters, one for each of his championship rings, cover how Jordan and the Brand changed design, business, pop culture, style, and athletics. Childhood trophies, his college cap and gown, and historic apparel from his personal archives appear in print for the first time. A never-before-published Annie Leibovitz photograph of Jordan fronts the cover.
Dior by Christian Dior
Price: $195
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Published to mark the seventieth anniversary of the house of Dior, this ASSOULINE volume gathers the most iconic haute couture designs conceived by Christian Dior himself. The pieces are conserved in the world's great museums and institutions, and each was photographed and compiled exclusively for this book. It opens a series devoted to each designer of the couture house, and the signature Dior Series now runs to six titles.
Carbone
Price: $120
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Major Food Group's Mario Carbone, Jeff Zalaznick, and Rich Torrisi built Carbone into a New York City institution, lit nightly by its red neon sign on Thompson Street. The New York Times said the three friends brought "back the punch-in-the-guts thrills of a genre that everybody else sees as uncultured and a little embarrassing." Developed with the trio, the book shares more than a dozen never-shared recipes, an extended interview with writer Gabe Ulla, and Oliver Pilcher's photographs of a night at the restaurant.
New York by New York
Price: $250
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E.B. White, Edith Wharton, Tom Wolfe, and Jay McInerney supply texts and quotes for this Assouline portrait of New York City, and photographers from Edward Steichen to Peter Lindbergh supply the images. It travels through all five boroughs, with glimpses into the city's history and the development of its skyline. Its stories run from early twentieth-century immigration and 1920s Prohibition to the sixties youth revolution, Broadway, and the discos of Studio 54. The volume comes in a slipcase, with typography created especially for the book.
Louis Vuitton: Virgil Abloh (Classic Cartoon Cover)
Price: $140
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Virgil Abloh took his first bow for Louis Vuitton in June 2018, and Assouline's newest Classics Collection title honors the partnership that followed. The book pairs more than 250 images with personal reflections from his inner circle, including Nigo, Naomi Campbell, Luka Sabbat, Kendall Jenner, and Kid Cudi. Classics editions are made in Italy and come in two different silk hardcovers, and this one carries cartoon artwork by artist Reggieknow from Virgil's spring-summer 2021 show.
Basketball: The Impossible Collection
Price: $1,400
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Wilt Chamberlain, Michael Jordan, Allen Iverson, and LeBron James all turn up in Assouline's Basketball: The Impossible Collection, a deluxe celebration of the history and culture of the NBA. Journalist Howard Beck recounts the 100 most significant moments in league history, paired with visuals showing the NBA's global impact. Part of Assouline's Ultimate collection, the book comes in an embossed rubber clamshell made to resemble an orange basketball.
Football: The Impossible Collection
Price: $1,400
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Rory Smith, longtime football correspondent for The New York Times, put together ASSOULINE's Football: The Impossible Collection, a print volume built around what it calls the 100 defining moments in the history of the world's game. The book traces football's cultural evolution across eras, leagues, and generations. It comes in a sculptural clamshell case, and the hardcover design takes its inspiration from the sport's iconic black-and-white ball.
