Before monogram purses, mongo SUVs and flashy tech gadgets, there were coffee table books. Large, hard backed, gloriously expensive books filled with mouth-watering photography or illustrations of a small niche in the world…an artist, a food, a type of architecture, an era, a person…which, when combined with (we hope) minimal text and voyeuristic coverage, the book has the power to make it’s beholder drool in a paper-induced day dream.

It’s no wonder that coffee table books, art books, and the like are such treasured gifts and coveted possessions worthy of holding their own place of prominent display even above expensive vases or décor.

An Interior Stylist’s Library is a gorgeous shopcast of coffee table books which has me drooling even before I can get to Amazon. Interior Stylist Alisha H has comprised a list of amazingly beautiful coffee table books that meet her tough requirements, “ every volume i choose must have at least 2 of these qualities - engrossing content, beautiful spine or dust jacket, interest of the client, or irony.”

She features edgy, provocative books like Sex & Landscapes by iconic artist/photographer Helmut Newton , and Tashen’s Terryworld, a collection of Terry Richardson’s art/porn photography. I mean, talk about a conversation starter – from Taschen’s website –

“ Who took 1970’s porn esthetic and made it fashion chic? Terry Richardson. Who made the trailer park trendy and the tractor hat de rigueur? Richardson again. Who’s equally at home in Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Purple and Vice? Our boy Terry…Porn stars, supermodels, transsexuals, hillbillies, friends, pets, and celebrities all do for his lens what they’ll do for no other. And if anyone ever wonders why they did it, just blame it on Terryworld, where taboos are null and void, and fashion finds sex a perfect fit.”

So what’s so great about Taschen books? Joyce de Brevannes of Bark Deco (who is equally obsessed with her dog and modern design) says  “Taschen books stores are an oasis of culture, stimulation, design adventures.”

Barbara Bestor’s new Silverlake , California design-style reader Bohemian Modern has made it into two book lists: LuxLotus.com’s Lux Loves and bretcody77’s gorgeous list Arty Books. And Lux Lotus says this one is not just a pretty cover,

“ Bohemian Modern is a sublime book, artfully bridging the gap between pretty to look at but dust-covered coffeetable paperweights and too basic utilitarian primers. Bestor does an excellent job of chronicling life in a particular time and place but also drawing parallels that can be applied universally by anyone seeking vintage-meets-this moment balance.”

Chris’s list A Few Good Books shopcasts a wide range of interior design and architecture books with extensive, in depth reviews of each. The following two may have a few too many words for a proper coffee table book, but they’re still beautiful on the eyes. Check out his thoughts on The New Modern House and The Green House: New Directions in Sustainable Architecture.

For eye-catching art, check out ShinySquirrel’s shopcasts. Like her blog, her ThisNext recommendations are a continual showcase of all things are and style. For the table, she loves Matthew Barney’s The Cremaster Cycle and photographer Shoichi Aoki’s book Fruits which is a psychedelic collection of portraits from the Japanese Harajuku fashion world .

For more hard-cover books to dress your tables, try searching ThisNext tags “coffee table books”, “art”, “books”, “art books” and “photography books”.