Tabletop travel: A wonderful list of photo books
Editor’s note: This delightful list of photo books, or as we call them “coffee table books” by Anannya, is a great way to travel without leaving your couch. Bustling city squares, cobblestone streets, and fragrant farms—make for the perfect respite when the real holiday is yet to come.
Written by: Anannya is an educator, librarian, activist, social justice worker and writer. In her free time, she runs a small book review page called @anyahkuttythings on Instagram where she recommends her favourite books, and writes about her reading experiences.
This photo-rich list of coffee table books isn't just pretty to look at—the books are portals into cities where art hides in plain sight, across ice-covered continents, into lavender fields and roadside cafés, onto motorbikes and dance floors and floating libraries. They’re the kind of books with glossy pages you want to linger with, and also the kind that reminds you the world is strange, beautiful, and waiting—even from your couch.
Art Hiding in New York by Lori Zimmer & Maria Krasinski: This charming guidebook takes readers on a visual scavenger hunt across NYC, spotlighting artworks embedded in the city’s fabric—tucked into parks, subway stations, facades, and forgotten corners. With hand-drawn maps and playful descriptions, it reframes New York as an open-air museum hiding in plain sight. A must-have for lovers of street art, public installations, and the poetry of urban space.
Painted Travels by SJ Axelby: Equal parts travelogue and art journal, this book combines lush watercolor illustrations with whimsical storytelling to reimagine beloved travel destinations—from iconic European cafes to quiet Mediterranean courtyards. Each page feels like a slow stroll through a city square, a passport stamped with texture, color, and longing.
The Crossing of Antarctica by George Lowe & Huw Lewis-Jones: This breathtaking photographic record captures the legendary 1957–58 Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition that finally fulfilled Sir Ernest Shackleton’s vision. The stark, sublime images—both awe-inspiring and intimate—showcase the extreme endurance, camaraderie, and grandeur of one of the last great feats of polar exploration.
Improbable Libraries by Alex Johnson: From mobile donkey libraries in Colombia to floating bookshops in London, this visual survey celebrates the most unusual, creative, and remote book spaces in the world. Each library tells a story—not just of books, but of community, access, and imagination. Makes for a bonafide love letter to bibliophiles!
Lavender by Hans Silvester: A sensory journey through France’s most aromatic region, this book combines stunning photography with history, culture, and craft. Silvester, who lived in Provence for almost 40 years, has photographed lavender in all four seasons, capturing the changing colors, shapes, and formal beauty of the plant. From blooming fields to artisanal distilleries, each image evokes scent through sight.
India: In Word and Image by Eric Meola: This is not your usual postcard-perfect travel book. Eric Meola’s 200 saturated, cinematic photographs capture the chaos, color, quiet, and contradiction of India—its rituals and streets, its textures and thresholds. Paired with poems, stories, and essays by Indian writers past and present, this book makes for a stunning keepsake for anyone drawn to India’s complexity and splendor.
