Unseen Vogue: The Secret History of Fashion Photography (Little, Brown U.K., $60)
These are the pictures that didn't make the magazine, not because they weren't good, but because of an editor's caprice or a too daring photographer. Going back to 1936, they offer a stunning visual catalog of Gfashion as seen by some of the great photographers of our time.

Elizabeth Taylor: My Love Affair with Jewelry (Simon & Schuster, $65)
Love affair? For Taylor, this is the one relationship that has stood the test of time. Prepare to be dazzled.

Athlete: Photographs by Howard Schatz (HarperCollins, $59.95)
Known for portraits of dancers, Schatz mines a new lode of great bodies. From line-backers to gymnasts—and every body type in between—he shows men and women posing in the prime of youth and strength.

Women: A Celebration to Benefit the Ms. Foundation for Women (Courage Books, $19.98)
Starting with childhood pictures and ending with striking images of the very old, this collection of photos and essays shows women of all cultures working, marrying, marching, mourning—in short, living their varied lives.

Abandoned America Photography and text by Steve Ottlieb (Sleeping Bear Press, $34.95)
Is everything disposable? You might think so after contemplating Gottlieb's haunting images. They include a ruined psychiatric hospital in the shadow of Manhattan's skyscrapers; a rusted Army tank on a pristine Puerto Rican beach; even a graveyard for crashed private planes.

Cocktail Parties with a Twist: Drinks + Food + Style By Alexandra and Eliot Angle (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, $30)
The Angles, event caterers in L.A., bring their expertise to "cocktail parties for our time," walking us through 14 scenarios—from Impossibly Small Apartment fete to Croquet party—and telling us what to serve and how much. They even help with the guest list: For the Urban Loft bash, "attractive singles are a must."

Stars on the Set: Stolen Moments (Filipacchi Publishing, $45)
Brando making funny faces; Chaplin mugging as 8-year-old Melanie Griffith giggles; Sharon Stone with her hair in curlers. A treasure trove for star watchers and cinephiles.

One Shot Harris: The Photographs of Charles 'Teenie' Harris By Stanley Crouch (Harry N. Abrams, $35)
From the 1930s to the 1970s, Harris chronicled the lives of Pittsburgh's African-Americans. The famous are here, from Jackie Robinson to Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, but it's the ordinary folk who hold the attention. The collection, as Crouch writes in his excellent introductory essay, "provides us with an epic sense of life."

Birds By Robert Bateman (Pantheon, $40)
Burrowing owl. Scarlet tanager. Great blue heron. They're all here in Bateman's paintings of birds from around the world. Not a field guide or reference book, it is instead a portfolio of avian beauty, all the more precious as so many of the birds are endangered by human depredation.

Wild at Heart: Man and Beast in Southern Africa Photographs by Chris Johns; essays by Peter Godwin (National Geographic, $65)
Here is Africa in all its beauty and complexity, both animal and human. Can we ever see it often enough or be warned often enough of how fragile it all is?

The Art of the Sports Car By Dennis Adler (HarperCollins, $44.95)
A car collector is quoted here as saying, "Some cars are more fun to look at than they are to drive." And oh, what fun they are to look at! Adler shows us the Ferraris, Jaguars and Bugattis of our wildest dreams. Perfect for anyone with midlife crisis but unwilling to pay the insurance.

The Quilts of Gee's Bend (Tinwood Books, $45)
For almost a century the women of tiny Gee's Bend, Ala.—all of them descendants of slaves—have created stunning quilts, presented here in all their homespun beauty. As a bonus we also get the women's stories, told in their own voices.

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BOBBY FLAY'S Five Cookbooks to Give

Lidia's Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Bastianich "Very lusty," says Flay.

Patricia Yeo: Cooking from A to Z "One of the hottest chefs in the country right now."

The Good Cookie by Tish Boyle "For the holidays you need to have a good dessert-and-cookie book."

The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern by Claudia Fleming "Simple, elegant."

Great Tastes Made Simple by Andrea Immer "A wine expert, she's not a snob about her profession. She can help you pick wines for every person."