Coffee table book

A coffee table book is a large, usually hard-covered book for display on a table. It is often non-fiction with pages of photographs and illustrations, captions, and small blocks of text. The idea of a book intended for display more than reading was mentioned by Michel de Montaigne in his 1581 essay  and Laurence Sterne in his 1759 novel The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman. In the late 1940s, publisher Albert Skira and a few others began producing large folio  and quarto format art books, illustrated with tipped-in color plates. David Brower is sometimes credited with inventing the modern coffee table book.Chilvers, Ian and John Glaves-Smith (2015) A Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Art (3 ed.). Oxford University Press.  https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100510260 (accessed 25 August 2019)Dufrêne, Bernadette (2002) L'édition d'art des années 1950-1970 : des promesses non tenues ?, Communication et langages. No. 134, 4 ème trimestre 22-38 pp. [Dufrêne, Bernadette (2002). The Art Edition of the 1950s and 1970s: Unfulfilled Promises?  Communication and Languages, 134(4): 22-38.]Corisande Evesque. Albert Skira et ses livres d’art (1948-1973). Histoire. 2015. ffdumas-01256888. PDF: https://dumas.ccsd.cnrs.fr/dumas-01256888/document  (accessed 25 August 2019)

The "Exhibit Format" series of books combined nature photography and writings, with a page size big enough to carry a given image's dynamic. Madonna's 1992 book Sex remains the most searched for out-of-print coffee table book.

References

Category:Books