The best photography books for your coffee table

In the Moment celebrates four decades of groundbreaking reportage from Reuters photojournalists across the globe. Featuring around 500 images divided by decade, it offers a striking visual account of world events from the 1980s to today. Accompanied by first-person reflections, these photographs reveal the courage and humanity behind breaking news, reaffirming the enduring value of bearing witness through the lens.

Adrienne Salinger revisits her iconic 1990s portrait series of adolescents surrounded by their possessions. At once rebellious and tender, these intimate photographs capture the formative spaces where teens negotiate their identity. Now expanded with 26 new images, the book reflects on how teenage rooms – and sense of self – have evolved in the age of social media, while retaining the rawness that made the original series a classic.

In Limelight, David Koppel opens his archive from London’s legendary 1980s nightclub of the same name, revealing the electricity and eccentricity of a cultural epicentre. Capturing George Michael to Boy George, Leigh Bowery to Run DMC, his black-and-white images immortalise a scene where music, fashion and hedonism collided. Published for the club’s 40th anniversary, it documents a decade of glamour, excess and creativity.

Sofia Coppola’s The Virgin Suicides chronicles the making of her haunting debut film, snapped candidly on set by Corinne Day. Day’s photographs reveal the introspective world of the Lisbon sisters and the dreamlike melancholy defining Coppola’s vision of adolescence. Released on the film’s 25th anniversary, the book includes new texts by Coppola and Jeffrey Eugenides, the author of the original novel.

In her debut photobook, Irish photographer Eimear Lynch documents teenage girls preparing for nights out – moments filled with laughter, anticipation and transformation. With a foreword by Simone Rocha, and shot in bedrooms and bathrooms across Ireland, the work captures friendship and identity formation in the age of social media, while also evoking a timeless and shared experience of ‘girlhood’.

Curator and critic Vince Aletti opens his personal archive in Physique, featuring over 250 vintage prints from the 1930s-60s – considered the golden age of physique photography. Once circulated covertly through mail-order magazines, these images celebrate desire, artistry and identity in gay male culture, transforming once-hidden expressions of beauty and resilience into vital visual history.

Eighties revisits a decade of power, glamour and excess through the lens of Britain’s most celebrated photographer, David Bailey. Icons like Grace Jones, Jerry Hall and Naomi Campbell appear in images drawn from Vogue and Tatler, capturing the bold spirit of 1980s fashion with Bailey’s trademark wit. The book includes an introduction by Grace Coddington.

Published with Chloé Arts and Steidl, Francesca Allen’s Konkursas documents Lithuania’s annual ‘long hair competition’. Blending folklore and femininity, her photographs explore the performative and intimate aspects of this ritual, where participants’ hair is measured, judged and celebrated. The project reflects Allen’s ongoing exploration of coming-of-age and femininity, and the rituals surrounding it.

Marking three decades of photography development agency Photoworks, this book celebrates the artists, curators and communities that have shaped the nation’s photographic culture. Featuring work by Rinko Kawauchi, Anna Fox and Lúa Ribeira, alongside essays and archival material, it traces Photoworks’ evolution from grassroots platform to cultural cornerstone, while also looking ahead to the next 30 years of image-taking. Become a Photoworks Friend to receive a copy of this annual.

RECORD explores Indigenous life in the Amazon, Borneo and Madagascar. Designed by Jonny Lu Studio, Stefan Dotter’s book echoes scientific field journals through layered translucent papers and tactile materials. Combining photographs, essays and notes, it reflects on humanity’s fragile bond with nature, while reinforcing this message by putting proceeds towards Health In Harmony, an organisation focused on advancing climate justice.

Ukrainian-American photographer Sasha Maslov, who works between Kyiv and New York, documents life on the frontlines of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. His new book, Saints, published by ist_ in collaboration with the Canadian foundation Saint Javelin, showcases the portraits he has captured during this time. Accompanied by text from Ukrainian war correspondent Nastia Stanko, the work illuminates the personal sacrifices of war, with Maslov’s powerful portraits offering a poignant and humanising perspective amid the conflict.

American photographer Roe Ethridge’s monograph, spanning 1990s–2022, compiles over 400 works that showcase his postmodern visual language. The collection interweaves his commercial, editorial and exhibition photography, creating a sequence of hybrid images reflecting contemporary American society. Ethridge’s approach spans documentary, fine art, fashion, advertising and personal projects, presenting a dynamic interplay between everyday life and artistic exploration, and highlighting the breadth and versatility of his photographic practice.

Giulia Parlato’s Diachronicles explores how museums shape historical narratives by blurring the line between fact and fiction. Using fabricated artifacts and dioramas set against historical evidence, her staged black-and-white photographs mimic archaeological legitimacy while destabilising conventional history. Through these temporal ambiguities and archival qualities, Parlato highlights the fallibility of museography, creating a space where reconstructed histories question authenticity and challenge our understanding of the past.

Thomas Rousset’s Parabert, published by Loose Joints, explores his childhood agricultural village on the French-Swiss border. Over 12 years, he documents local Praberians and their landscapes through portraits, comic constructions and rural eccentricities. Highlighting the ritualistic and symbolic aspects of daily life, Rousset celebrates close-knit communities while blending naturalism with absurdity. The result is a quasi-hallucinatory depiction of village life, revealing the subtle, overlooked rhythms and peculiarities of an under-described society.

Artist Talia Chetrit’s book Joke, published by MACK, blends diverse visual languages to explore the interplay between reality and performance. Drawing from family photos, street photography, still lifes, her teenage archive and expressive self-portraits, Chetrit juxtaposes tradition with controversy. There’s carnage and carnality in these contrasts, as her partner is depicted in high-end fetish-wear while feeding their son, and a nude Chetrit photographs herself in transparent trousers. Like a composer, she orchestrates these elements into a complex chorus that challenges perception, blurring boundaries between private and public, personal and performative, everyday life and artifice.

In Body Double, Thomas Albdorf challenges perceptions of space and light, creating images where 'nothing here is what it seems'. Published with Same Paper, the book links his signature photographic process to the illusory glamour of Los Angeles and its film industry. Clouds can appear solid, water like dust – every object feels slightly off. Albdorf’s work mirrors the cinematic mirage, blending reality and artifice to mesmerise viewers, capturing the captivating, unsettling allure of both the city and the constructed worlds of entertainment.

A Pound of Pictures by Alec Soth, published by Mack, presents a wide-ranging collection of images – from Buddhist statues and birdwatchers to sun-seekers and Abraham Lincoln busts. Crafted as a stream-of-consciousness, the book explores the impulse to record and collect, emphasising the act of creation itself. Soth reflects that his photographs connect the ephemeral – light and time – with the tangible – eyeballs and film. Coinciding with the book’s release are solo exhibitions at Sean Kelly Gallery (New York), Weinstein Hammons Gallery (Minneapolis) and Fraenkel Gallery (San Francisco).

Venus & Mercury is a limited-edition art book by Viviane Sassen, created with unprecedented access to France’s Palace of Versailles and published by Aperture. Inspired by the palace’s marble statues, Sassen crafts surreal forms while exploring its baroque interiors, gardens, and even Marie Antoinette’s private correspondence. Accompanied by Marjolijn van Heemstra’s poems reflecting courtly life, the book merges contemporary vision with historical resonance. Each copy is uniquely encased in hand-painted boxes, conceived and designed by renowned bookmaker Irma Boom, making it a striking collectible art object.

The self-titled publication on Deana Lawson surveys fifteen years of her work, offering a compelling exploration of her photographic practice. Through collaborative portraits, Lawson transforms the voyeuristic nature of photography, creating powerful connections between subject and viewer. Featuring family photographs and vernacular archives, the book highlights influences that shape her nuanced representations of Black identities across African American and African diaspora communities. Combining scholarship and artistry, it reflects on personal and social histories, examining themes of life, love, sexuality, family and spirituality.

Magnum Dogs presents a delightful collection of dog photography from the renowned Magnum archive. Featuring mischievous mutts, perfectly groomed pooches and canine performers, the book showcases the work of top photographers like Eve Arnold and Martin Parr. Organised into five thematic chapters – Streetwise, Best in Show, It’s a Dog Life, At the Beach, and Behind the Scenes – it captures the humour, charm and personality of dogs in every setting. Packed with wit and warmth, this collection is guaranteed to convert anyone into a dog lover.

Chatsworth, Arcadia, Now, by Tate curator John-Paul Stonard and illustrated with Victoria Hely-Hutchinson’s photographs, offers an in-depth exploration of one of England’s grandest country homes. Tracing sixteen generations of the Cavendish family, the book showcases both the house’s history and its remarkable art collection, from Poussin’s The Arcadian Shepherds and Canova’s Endymion to contemporary works by Lucian Freud and David Hockney. Presented in reverse chronological order with a foreword by the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, it reveals the layers of life, culture, and art within Chatsworth.

Emma Lewis’s book explores the vital yet often overlooked contributions of women to photography throughout its short history. Highlighting over 140 photographers, with extended profiles of 75 key figures, it examines how gender has shaped both their work and recognition. Through ten thematic essays, the book traces women’s roles across studio, war, documentary and artistic photography, revealing how shifting social norms and power structures influenced their careers. Some photographers engage directly with gender, while for others it is incidental, but all demonstrate the significant impact women have had on the evolution of the photographic medium.

Face Time explores over 150 years of portrait photography, tracing its evolution from identification and storytelling to fine art, cinema, fashion and journalism. Curator Phillip Prodger examines iconic images of figures like Queen Elizabeth II, Barack Obama, Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn, alongside influential photographers such as William Henry Fox Talbot, Lee Miller and Zanele Muholi. The book highlights the cultural, historical and artistic significance of portraiture, revealing both celebrated and overlooked works that define the medium’s rich legacy.

The British Isles spans 13 years of life across the UK, capturing a nation in flux. Through portraits and landscapes, Jamie Hawkesworth documents people and places – from schools and markets to cities and estates – revealing the everyday poignancy of a changing society. His work reflects the beauty, austerity and tension of contemporary Britain, forming a vivid, questioning record of a country shaped by celebration, conflict and the evolving complexity of its identity.