10 beautiful new coffee table books for 2024
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I love a good coffee table book. Many of my favourite non-fiction books are beautiful hardcovers with stunning illustrations, immersive photographs, and high-quality printing – especially if they’re about my go-to topics of nature, travel, and food.
Featuring some of the best publishers of high-quality lifestyle books, read on for the most beautiful new coffee table books I’ve come across this year, including stunning nature photography, travel books to inspire wanderlust, and a few celebrations of food among other literary feasts for the eyes.
All of these books are newly published this year – and although some might seem too good to share, I think they’re also some of the best books to give as gifts in 2024…
Coffee table books for beautiful browsing in 2024
STILL: The Art of Noticing by Mary Jo Hoffman
Still: The Art of Noticing is the reason I put together this collection of new coffee table books. After falling in love with its stunning pages, I want to tell everyone about this book.
Recently published by Monacelli, Still: The Art of Noticing is a doorway into former aeronautical engineer Mary Jo Hoffman’s decade-long creative ritual: taking a photograph every day of found nature, no matter how small or ordinary.
Accompanied by awe-inspiring musings on her creative process, Still is an incredible celebration of nature’s beauty, interconnectedness, and the power of noticing the world around us.
A Place In Scotland: Beautiful Scottish Interiors by Banjo Beale
“For every hygge home in Copenhagen there is a nook to ‘coorie’ into in Scotland – coorie being the Scots word meaning snuggling and nestling into a space. Our warm nests are antidotes to long, dark winters…”
If, like me, Scotland is one of your favourite places, you’ll probably also love this beautiful collection of beautiful Scottish interiors by Banjo Beale, author of Wild Isle Style.
With photos by Alexander Baxter to whisk you away, A Place in Scotland will kindle your dreams of a remote cosy escape in the Scottish hills to coorie in with a dram of Laphroaig, a thick Harris tweed blanket, and some good company.
Wanderlust Mediterranean by Cam Honan
I can’t resist gestalten’s Wanderlust books – awe-inspiring guides to the world’s best hiking trails – and can see the Europe and Nordic editions on my shelves while writing this. So of course I had to include this year’s stunning new addition to the series: Wanderlust Mediterranean.
Curated by long-distance adventurer Cam Honan – a self-described “Australian guy that walks a lot” (across 56 countries and over 60,000 miles) – this is an expert, on-the-ground look at the best hikes in the Mediterranean, accompanied by the stunning photographs and helpful pointers that are characteristic of the series. Spanning France, Portugal, the Balkans, Morocco, and other countries along the Mediterranean Sea, you’ll soon be planning your next adventure.
The Tree Atlas: The World’s Most Amazing Trees and Where to Find Them by Lonely Planet and Matthew Collins
Just published in October 2024 by Lonely Planet, The Tree Atlas is guaranteed to turn heads (my husband singled it out from the pile of books on my desk to comment on how gorgeous it is). Browse these beautiful pages to learn about the world’s most amazing trees, where to find them, and how to identify them. With expert insights from Matt Collins, head gardener of London’s Garden Museum, and Thomas Rutter, horticulturalist and garden writer, it’s a perfect gift for anyone fascinated by trees. Thank you to the publisher for the review copy – it’s a stunning book.
The Work of Art: How Something Comes from Nothing by Adam Moss
How does a great piece of art become itself? The Work of Art is for anyone interested in the creative workings of our finest artists, taking a deep dive into how something – especially something very good – comes from nothing. From Louise Glück’s poetry to the development of The Wire, learn how your favourite creative works – art, books, TV, music – came to be in this awe-inspiring new coffee table book.
Stillness: An Exploration of Japanese Aesthetics in Architecture and Design by Architects Norm
I’ll mention gestalten a few times in this list – it’s unavoidable, really, considering how much I love their beautifully well-made and visually inspiring travel and lifestyle books. Stillness is one of the latest books I’ve fallen in love with, curating a highly visual tour of Japanese aesthetics in architecture and design.
The book is a collaboration with Copenhagen-based Norm Architects, who described Stillness as “an ode to Japan, a personal travelogue, and an aesthetic manifesto that captures our decade-long exploration of one of the world’s most revered creative cultures”.
If you also love Japanese design and minimalism, or dream of experiencing a quiet tea ceremony in a peaceful ryokan someday, add Stillness to the top of your Christmas list this year.
Lonely Planet’s The Joy of Quiet Places
There’s a definite paradox in Lonely Planet recommending quiet places to seek refuge from the world, but alas – their new “The Joy Of…” series (including volumes on birdwatching, wild swimming, and gardens) is a welcome celebration of restorative experiences. Here in The Joy of Quiet Places, Lonely Planet’s writers share the joy of 60+ quiet places and their stories, travelling across the globe from Seogwipo Healing Forest in South Korea to Svalbard in the remote Arctic.
A Thousand Feasts by Nigel Slater
“These diminutive pleasures are there if we care to look for them, little joys illuminating an increasingly darkening world. They feed the soul and nourish the spirit.”
I’ve recommended A Thousand Feasts everywhere since it was published last month, and while it’s not a doorstop of a book like the other recommendations on this list, it’s a small gem that’s perfect to leaf through in quiet moments.
As Nigel Slater shares, the book was also written in moments that will become misty with time: “a jumble of curiosities and wonderings penned at my kitchen table, while soaked to the skin in a fisherman’s hut in Reykjavík, sitting calmly in a moss garden in Japan or sheltering from a blizzard in the warmth of a chocolate-box Konditorei in Vienna.”
Sharing small moments of joy – from mango eaten in monsoon rain to the scent of an English garden’s sweet peas – this heartwarming read is a perfect way to treat yourself to some gentle, escapist reading of your own (and it’ll also make a thoughtful gift when December rolls around).
Lonely Planet Amazing Train Journeys: 60 unforgettable rail trips and how to experience them
Beginning with exploring Scandinavia via Interrail as a student – and probably culminating in the Trans-Mongolian railway a few years ago – some of my favourite adventures have been train journeys. We have several books like Lonely Planet’s new Amazing Train Journeys on our shelves (and particularly love The Flightless Traveller and gestalten’s Epic Train Journeys), but this is still a sturdy updated edition to inspire adventures.
Whether you already love train travel or want to do more of it, Amazing Train Journeys is a wonderfully comprehensive guide to planning train journeys of a lifetime across the globe.
Elements: Chaos, order and the five elemental forces by Stephen Ellcock
If you haven’t come across Stephen Ellcock’s mind-bending “image alchemy” before, you’re in for a treat. Ellcock’s evocative and masterfully-curated new book for 2024, Elements, is a compendium of associations of the five natural elements, revealing their profound significance to ancient minds – philosophers, alchemists, and astrologers – and modern artists, photographers, and scientists alike. Exploring earth, water, air, fire, and celestial aether, this book is a stunning achievement.
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