Most Beautiful Books of 2017: A Holiday Gift Guide
Published by Daisy on
A Holiday Gift Guide
Most Beautiful Books of 2017
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Welcome to this quick review of 40 of the most beautiful books published this year, with the aim of helping you to find appropriate gifts for your nearest and dearest, or – even better – take an opportunity to treat yourself during the holiday season! The books are loosely sorted by genre, and I’ve added links for every book to help you track down the exact edition if you see anything you love.
There’s truly something for everyone. Subcategories if you’d like to jump ahead include picture books, children’s books, pop-ups, teens, fiction, fantasy & scifi, movie buffs, Harry Potter, art, history & mythology and Christmas…
Please note that some of the links below are affiliate links. I very deeply appreciate your support of my site hosting costs if you use them, but warmly encourage you to buy from your local Indie bookshop if you have the opportunity. On the other hand, if you’re an Amazon shopper, I have added the books to this handy list for you.
Picture Books
The Worm and the Bird – Coralie Bickford Smith
This stunningly illustrated picture book is a story about searching and hoping, and how the smallest moment can be beautiful. Perfect for adults or children. Coralie’s design work is most recognisable in the Penguin Clothbound Classics series, and it really shines in her picture book series, the first of which was equally beautiful, The Fox and the Star.
➤ Find US edition at Amazon | B&N | Blackwells | Abes | eBay
➤ Find UK edition at Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells | Abes | eBay
☞ See the Penguin Clothbound Classics page for more covers by Coralie.
Nibbles: The Dinosaur Guide: and Nibbles: The Book Monster - Emma Yarlett
These are beautifully engineered books, packed full of peek through holes where Nibbles has eaten through the book, lift the flaps and interesting facts. You can even get a matching plush toy if you’re buying for a little one.
➤ Find Nibbles: The Book Monster from Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells | Abes | eBay
Children's Books
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland - illustrated by Charles Santore
Perfect for an Alice collector, as this gorgeously illustrated volume has foldout illustrations, and comes with a poster as well.
➤ Find it at Amazon | B&N | Waterstones | Blackwells | Abes | eBay
☞ See also my Alice in Wonderland editions guide for more pretty editions of this title.
The Little Prince - Folio Society Edition
The Folio Society’s Little Prince is a fabulous edition – it includes the heart-warming famous story, with illustrations that have been lovingly restored to their original beauty along with the authentic French captions, it has delightful printed endpapers and an illustrated slipcase, and also comes with a fascinating companion commentary volume.
☞ See also the article on ‘hidden secrets’ in this volume.
Beauty and the Beast - illustrated by MinaLima
MinaLima’s Beauty & the Beast is the third in their interactive fairy tale series. This volume includes fold-out maps, an advent calendar that reveals entertainments available in the palace, and the movable dial from the ring that Beauty uses to return to the beast as well as a myriad of other clever feats of paper engineering. If you don’t have any of these stunning volumes yet, they have also just released a boxed set including this volume along with Peter Pan and the Jungle Book.
➤ Find it at Amazon | B&N | Waterstones | Blackwells | Abes | eBay
☞ See the MinaLima interactive illustrated classics page for more in this series.
The World of Moominvalley - Tove Jansson
This volume is a must buy for anyone who loves the Moomins, the lovely characters in a series of books and comics by Swedish-speaking Finnish illustrator Jansson. It has a die-cut cover with gold foil, and the internal layout is bright and beautifully designed.
➤ Find it at Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells | Abes | eBay
Finn Family Moomintroll - Collector's Editions
This year, Sort of Books has also released their first four special collectors editions of the original Moomin books, using the original 50s and 60s cover artwork, with gorgeous endpapers and foldout maps. They are stunning and very affordable, I am hoping the rest will follow soon. So far they have released Finn Family Moomintroll, Comet in Moominland, Memoirs of Moominpappa (which older British readers will know as The Exploits of Moominpapa) and Moominland Midwinter.
➤ Find Finn Family Moomintroll from Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells | Abes | eBay
➤ Find Comet in Moominland from Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells | Abes | eBay
➤ Find Memoirs of Moominpappa from Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells | Abes | eBay
➤ Find Moominland Midwinter from Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells | Abes | eBay
The World of Moominvalley by Tove Jansson - Tove Jansson
A few shops in the UK have also made available Jansson’s sweet little short story ‘The Invisible Child and the Fir Tree’ for which proceeds go to charity, if you’re looking for an adorable little literary stocking stuffer. (It’s such a great year for Moomin-lovers!)
➤ Find it at Amazon | Waterstones | Abes | eBay
The Wonderling - Mira Bartock
A gorgeously illustrated tale of fox-like foundling who has a desperate desire to belong and sets off to seek his destiny in a magical Dickensian steam-punk work.
➤ Find it at Amazon | B&N | Blackwells | Abes | eBay
Nevermoor - Jessica Townsend
Nevermoor – the first book in the Trials of Morrigan Crow – is by another Australian author – and it has been touted as the new Harry Potter, with good reason. It’s a lovely and fun magical tale about a girl who is cursed to die on her eleventh birthday, who discovers she can escape her fate by competing in the trials of the Wundrous Society. The UK edition has a lovely hidden illustration under the cover – both sprinkled with gold – and pretty illustrated chapter headings.
The Magic Misfits - Neil Patrick Harris
The Magic Misfits by actor Neil Patrick Harris is another very fun read. This volume features all sorts of trickery not only in the story, but also in the book itself, with secrets and ciphers and codes to find starting from the contents page as well as throughout the book. Excellent fun.
➤ Find it at Amazon | B&N | Waterstones | Blackwells | Abes | eBay
Pop-Up & Animation
Disney * Pixar: A Pop-Up Celebration - Matthew Reinhart
For the Disney lover, the Disney * Pixar pop-up celebration will be published soon, which features over 30 pop-ups by paper engineer extraordinaire, Matthew Reinhart. Like the Pixar movies, each pop-up has easter eggs referring to other films, so this will be fun for both children and adult animation lovers to peruse and discover.
Young Adult
Tangleweed and Brine - Deirdre Sullivan
A witchy collection of twelve dark, feminist retellings of traditional fairytales from one of Ireland’s leading writers for young people, intricately illustrated with black and white line drawings by Karen Vaughan.
➤ Find it at Amazon | B&N | Waterstones | Blackwells | Abes | eBay
A Skinful of Shadows - Frances Harding
Beautifully designed, with another lovely hidden cover for the UK edition. This dark historical otherworldly tale is about a girl who can be possessed by the spirits of the dead. The Waterstones signed edition with green sprayed page edges is unfortunately out of print.
Language of Thorns - Leigh Bardugo
A collection of six stories set in Bardugo’s magical Grisha-verse, each of them richly atmospheric and lavishly illustrated. The UK edition is clothbound, while the US edition has illustrated boards under the dust jacket.
➤ Find UK edition at Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells | Abes | eBay
➤ Find US edition at Amazon | B&N | Blackwells | Abes | eBay
There are several collector’s editions of A Darker Shade of Magic, the first book in VE Schwab’s fantastic Shades of Magic series, about magicians who travel between parallel Londons. These editions shine a light on the readers of the book by including beautiful fan art. I have the US versions of the original series so chose to get the UK collector’s edition, but there are multiple options if this one interests you.
➤ Find UK Collector’s Edition at Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells | Abes | eBay
➤ Find US Collector’s Edition at Amazon | B&N | Blackwells | Abes | eBay
➤ Find B&N edition at Barnes & Noble
City of Bones: 10th Ann - Cassandra Clare
The tenth anniversary edition of City of Bones features over thirty interior motifs, as well as six full-age character portraits. This is the book where Clary Fray first discovers the Shadowhunters, a secret cadre of warriors dedicated to driving demons out of our world and back to their own.
Warcross - Marie Ly
A super fun young adult science fiction, for which you want to make sure you get the UK edition, with its fabulous rainbow cover under the dust jacket. This one features a teenage hacker doubling as a bounty hunter for people who bet illegally on a game called Warcross.
Fiction
The Bedlam Stacks - Natasha Pulley
Tells the tale of a treacherous quest in the magical landscape of nineteenth-century Peru. The hardback cover is a cool die-cut, showing the beautifully illustrated endpapers underneath. Her previous book – The Watchmaker of Filigree Street – is also a blend of historical events with flights of fancy that travels through Victorian London and Japan.
Murder on the Orient Express (Folio Society) - Agatha Christie
Murder on the Orient Express is one of Agatha Christie’s most celebrated mysteries (and it’s certainly fun although not my favourite), and with the recent movie release, there are a few lovely editions of this one popping up. The Folio society have a beautifully illustrated edition, with wonderful illustrations by Andrew Davidson. There is also a luxuriously illustrated film-tie in version that was just released – it’s a large format book with artwork and photography from the film adaptation, which has been beautifully laid out with 200 illustrations.
➤ OOP. Find Murder on the Orient Express (Folio Society Edition) at Abes | eBay
➤ Find The Illustrated Movie Tie-In Murder on the Orient Express from Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells | Abes | eBay
☞ If you like Agatha Christie, please also check out the article on the rest of the FS Agatha Christie books, a collector’s guide to the Bantam Agatha Christie series, and some nostalgic paperback art in the Tom Adams & Agatha Christie retrospective…
Fantasy & Science Fiction
The Name of the Wind: 10th Anniversary Ed - Patrick Rothfuss
This year has seen some lovely anniversary editions released as well. The 10th anniversary edition of Patrick Rothfuss’s The Name of the Wind is one of the best – it has red stained page edges, a little hidden debossing on the boards under the dust jacket and more than 20 beautiful illustrations, as well as a host of extra features including appendices discussing the calendar and currency systems, a pronunciation guide, and two expanded maps. It’s really stunning.
➤ Find it at Amazon | B&N | Blackwells | Abes | eBay
Swords and Deviltry (Centipede Press) - Fritz Lieber
Centipede Press released a lovely edition of Fritz Lieber’s Swords and Deviltry (somewhat randomly on the ’78th anniversary’ of the character’s debut) – it has five colour illustrations and a frontispiece, custom illustrated endpapers, and contains a collection of short stories featuring classic fantasy heroes Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser.
Nevernight Chronicles - Jay Kristoff
The UK editions of Jay Kristoff’s dark fantasy The Nevernight Chronicles have these glorious hidden images embossed on the covers under the dustjackets. The most recent book Godsgrave features a wolf, and the previous volume Nevernight had a raven.
UK hardbacks are unfortunately now out of print, but you can try your luck on the second-hand market.
The Book of Dust - Philip Pullman
La Belle Sauvage is the first book in the ‘Book of Dust’ trilogy by Philip Pullman, a companion series to ‘His Dark Materials’ trilogy. It’s a fabulous read, and there are several beautiful editions available – and if you missed out on one of the limited edition ones (which sold out before publication), the UK standard edition is still lovely, with a sprinkling of glittery dust motes hidden under the dust jacket, as well as lovely illustrated chapter headings.
The Princess Bride (Deluxe Edition) - William Goldman
And for the romantics we have the truly stunning deluxe edition of the classic romantic fantasy adventure comedy The Princess Bride written by William Goldman – or should I say S Morgenstern? This keepsake edition has a foiled and embossed cover, fifty full-page colour illustrations by Michael Manomivibul on rough cut cream paper, full colour chapter openers and a lovely colour map on the endpapers.
➤ Find it at Amazon | B&N | Blackwells | Abes | eBay
☞ See my guide to editions of The Princess Bride for more about this and other volumes.
Movie Buffs
The Dark Crystal: The Ultimate Visual History
For the movie buff, the Ultimate Visual History books are a fantastic series. I have here the one for The Dark Crystal and as you can see, as well as telling the story of the creative journey that led from story to screen. These books are filled with a huge range of visual art – from set photography to storyboards and production notes – but the real fun comes in the removable ephemera, such as script pages, sketches and other delightful treasures to hold.
➤ Find it at Amazon | B&N | Waterstones | Blackwells | Abes | eBay
☞ Equally fun earlier movie volumes in this series include Visual Guides to The Labyrinth and Back to the Future.
Harry Potter
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Illustrated Edition) - JK Rowling
No gift guide would be complete without mentioning the illustrated versions of JK Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them as well as the glorious History of Magic by the British Museum. They’ve been covered extensively elsewhere, but I just want to say they are every bit as gorgeous as you would hope. (And if you have a lot of spare cash, those fancy deluxe editions are even more special…) Note that the US and US editions of Fantastic Beasts have different covers, but are the same inside.
➤ Find Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (UK ed) from Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells | Abes | eBay
➤ Find Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (US ed) from Amazon | B&N | Blackwells | Abes | eBay
➤ Find the Deluxe Edition of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban from Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells | Abes | eBay
➤ Find Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (UK edition) from Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells | Abes | eBay
➤ Find Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (US edition) from Amazon | B&N | Blackwells | Abes | eBay
➤ Find the Deluxe Edition of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them from Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells | Abes | eBay
➤ Find The History of Magic (UK edition) from Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells | Abes | eBay
➤ Find The History of Magic (US edition) from Amazon | B&N | Blackwells | Abes | eBay
Art Books
Frida - Sébastian Perez & Benjamin Lacombe
Art lovers should definitely take a look at Benjamin Lacombe’s stunning book Frida, with excerpts from Frida Kahlo’s personal diaries and Sébastian Perez’s poetic musings. It features a series of consecutive die-cut pages, drawing you in to her life, art, and creative process.
➤ Find it at Amazon | B&N | Waterstones | Blackwells | Abes | eBay
➤ Also available in Spanish
The Lost Words - Robert MacFarlane
Gorgeously illustrated by Jackie Morris, this is an oversized magical “spell book” to conjure back lost nature words through poetry and paint.
➤ Find it at Amazon | B&N | Waterstones | Blackwells | Abes | eBay
Ravilious & Co: The Pattern of Friendship - Andy Friend
Eric Ravilious is one of the best-known twentieth-century English artists, and this book – dynamic tale of art and friendship, set between the World Wars – is beautifully designed in his honour.
➤ Find it at Amazon | B&N | Waterstones | Blackwells | Abes | eBay
History & Mythology
Shahnameh - Ferdowsi Ferdowsi & Ahmad Sadri
For the history or mythology lover, I’d highly recommend you take a look at the illustrated version of Shahnameh, the epic of the Persian Kings. This slipcased book is simply stunning, with lavish and spectacular illustrations. It’s a huge volume and offers many hours of enjoyment.
➤ Find it at Amazon | B&N | Waterstones | Blackwells | Abes | eBay
☞ Check out my in-depth review of this book, it’s really gorgeous!
Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes - Edith Hamilton
The 75th anniversary illustrated edition of Edith Hamilton’s Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes is quite lovely (although one always hopes for more illustrations by the very talented Jim Tierney!).
➤ Find it at Amazon | B&N | Waterstones | Blackwells | Abes | eBay
Christmas
V&A Collector's Editions
The V&A collector’s editions are quite fun and affordable, and to celebrate the season they have released Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Of course, the main attraction of this series is really the covers, which feature William Morris patterns under the illustrations and look lovely together on the shelf.
➤ Find it at Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells | Abes | eBay
☞ See the V&A Collector’s Information page for more in this series.
The Nutcracker - Shobhna Patel
And I also have two editions of Hoffman’s holiday classic The Nutcracker to share with you. One is this interesting die-cut edition, which feature clever “paperscopes” by the illustrator Shobhna Patel.
➤ Find it at Amazon | B&N | Waterstones | Blackwells | Abes | eBay
The Nutcracker - Sann Annukka
And the other is the third Christmas book, The Nutcracker, by Finnish illustrator Sanna Annukka. Sanna may be familiar to you through her collaborations with fashion company Marimekko. Her other (matching) Christmas books include Hans Christian Andersen’s The Fir Tree and The Snow Queen, and all three are clothbound and feature stunning illustrations – truly beautiful short reads to enjoy.
➤ Find The Nutcracker at Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells | Abes | eBay
➤ Find The Fir Tree at Amazon | B&N | Waterstones | Blackwells | Abes | eBay
➤ Find The Snow Queen at Amazon | B&N | Waterstones | Blackwells | Abes | eBay
I do these lists every year – if you enjoyed this list, you might also like to check out my other best of the year lists here…
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