I’m mildly — okay, totally — obsessed with coffee table books. Massive, hulking tomes so heavy they’re nearly impossible to lift. Books with thick, shiny pages and splashy, larger-than-life pictures. Volumes about fashion, design, art, architecture and beauty. Books that — while you may not lug them to bed for late-night reading — make for seriously yummy eye-candy.

No coffee table is complete without books from superluxe publishing company Assouline. My fave page-turners? Nick Foulkes’ The Trench Book (yes, an entire book devoted to the iconic coat), the Chanel set (a slipcase covering the brand’s fashion, jewelry and perfume), The Carlyle (176 pages chronicling the history of the legendary hotel), and François Baudot’s Compendium of Interior Styles (a deliciously large, apple-red volume about interior design and decor).

And, really, dog-eared paperbacks are so last year.

Assouline books are available at Petulia’s Folly, 1710-12 Sansom Street, 215-569-1344, petuliasfolly.com.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 7th, 2008 at 6:00 am and is filed under Home. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Posted by Emily Gagne on 2/7/08 in Home