Bound for Glory

The year's best gift books are built to browse

It's one of the oldest laws of holiday gift giving--it may even be somewhere in the Code of Hammurabi--that big, sumptuous illustrated books, the kind with lots of full- and double-page photographs and art in ultra-high-thread-count reproductions, are the obvious solution to the problem of what to get practically anybody. If you buy a friend or loved one the right book of that kind, it not only flatters your dear one's intelligence and aesthetics; it also tells everyone just how good your taste and judgment are. You're practically buying your own advertising, since richly illustrated volumes tend to be kept on...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!