Most Beautiful Non-Fiction & Gift Books of 2025 – A Holiday Gift Guide
A Holiday Gift Guide
Prettiest Non-Fiction and Gift Books of 2025
On this page:
Welcome to the non-fiction and gifting books chapter of this year’s “Most Beautiful Books of the Year” annual holiday gift guide – beautiful, fascinating conversation starters that are perfect for pressing into someone’s hands (or holding tightly in your own, haha).
Any book with a star (★) next to it is also visually reviewed in the video. If I recommend a book in this list, you can rest assured it’s not just the physical beauty that counts – I do also read the books I recommend on this site, and I only include books where I think the contents are beautiful too ツ .
Bookshop links are included below if you are interested in buying any of the books for yourself. Some of the links are affiliate links (and thank you if you use them!) but please do support your local bookstore as a priority if you can. If you’re new here, and you’d like more regular recommendations, you might also like to check out my regularly updated lists of special editions, pre-order offers, and/or subscribe to my very occasional newsletter.
And now, on to the books!
Video Overview
Non-Fiction & Reference
Celebrating Reading
★ Women of the Fairy Tale Resistance – Jane Harrington
An interesting history of seven 17th‑century French noblewomen known as les conteuses – who coined the term “conte de fees, or fairy tale” and used their subversively feminist stories as safe vehicles for political rage against the rule under King Louis XIV. Each chapter gives a short, lively biography of one of these woman and then retellings of several of her tales, exploring how grandmothers, witches and enchanted princesses were used to smuggle in critiques of patriarchy, forced marriage and homophobia.
➤ Find it at Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Waterstones
★ The Haunted Wood – Sam Leith
A big, lush survey of 75 children’s classics from around the world, spanning roughly 150 years – from Little Women through to Harry Potter and beyond, with contributions from a whole roster of children’s‑lit critics and writers. The essays are one or two pages each, grouped into four eras: “First Golden Age”, “New Horizons”, “Modern Narratives”, “Contemporary Classics”. Visually, it’s full of original artwork, film stills, sketches and manuscript pages, alongside input from several leading children’s literature specialists.
➤ Find it at Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Waterstones
★ Worlds of Wonder – Daniel Hahn
A fascinating cultural history of not only what children have read but also how our thoughts about what childhood is over time. As he says, the right book at the right time can turn somebody into a reader for life, and his survey travels from ancient fables and Aesop through the Victorian/Edwardian “golden age” and into modern phenomena. Again, there is a heavy British bent, but I love the inclusion of Sam’s personal anecdotes and opinions, as well as the mini biographies of famous children’s authors.
➤ Find US/UK ed at Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Waterstones
➤ Find AU ed at Amazon
Inspirational Companions
★ Always Remember – Charlie Mackesy
Weldon Owen, 9798886742398
A collection of 50 potions – I mean, cocktails – inspired by Edward Gorey’s humorously macabre characters and settings.
➤ Find US ed at Amazon | Barnes & Noble
➤ Find UK ed at Amazon | Waterstones
➤ Find special ed at Waterstones
★ The Little Frog’s Guide to Life – Maybell Eequay
Weldon Owen, 9798886742398
A collection of 50 potions – I mean, cocktails – inspired by Edward Gorey’s humorously macabre characters and settings.
➤ Find it at Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Waterstones
The Book of Thanks – Rachel Hébert
A collection of 52 short poems and 108 pieces of artwork, designed with lots of peaceful white space to support its goal to create the scene for contemplating gratitude. Bound in linen, with a slipcase.
➤ Find it at Amazon
The Neverending Book – Naoki Matayoshi, illustrated by Shinsuke Yoshitake
Weldon Owen, 9798886742398
A collection of 50 potions – I mean, cocktails – inspired by Edward Gorey’s humorously macabre characters and settings.
➤ Find it at Amazon | Waterstones
Books on Books
★ Protectors of the Written Word – 1000 Libraries
This book was spun out of the 1000 Libraries project. It contains 25 stories of people around the world who’ve dedicated their lives to books and reading – booksellers, librarians, and other “book guardians”. The characters are interesting, and reading about intensely hopeful, practical acts of bookish kindness just fills the heart. The book feels luxurious with vegan leather binding, lots of foiling and a ribbon marker, but there are some weird editing issues in the text that may affect your reading experience.
➤ Find it at 1000 Libraries
Literary Escapes: Exploring the Real-Life Settings of the World’s Favourite Fiction – ed. John Sutherland
Each chapter takes a beloved novel or series and then explores the actual places that inspired it – cities, landscapes, real houses behind fictional manors – with notes on how the real and fictional geographies overlap. It’s arranged as an A–Z / browsable compendium rather than a narrative journey.
Note that this is a new Australian release, but it has been available in the US/UK for a couple of years already, under the title Literary Landscapes.
➤ Find Australian edition at Amazon
➤ Find UK/US Australian edition at Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Waterstones
★ The Writer’s Table – Valerie Stivers
Spun out of Stivers’ long‑running “Eat Your Words” column, this book pairs about 50 authors with recipes connected to their lives or works: Jane Austen’s white soup, Maya Angelou’s caramel cake, Laurie Colwin’s gingerbread, Tolstoy’s soup, Truman Capote’s chicken hash, and more. Each entry includes a short biographical sketch focusing on the writer’s relationship with food, then a modernised recipe you can actually cook.
➤ Find it at Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Waterstones
★ The Country Commonplace Book – Miranda Mills, illustrated by Debbie Powell
A lovely illustrated cornucopia of curated quotes, poems, recipes and themed notes that align with the seasons. British cottage-core in the nicest sense.
➤ Find it at Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Waterstones
Natural World
★ Cat Tales: A History – Jerry D. Moore
Jerry Moore is an anthropologist and archaeologist, and thus his approach to this book recounts stories of feline history, examining the long, complicated relationship between humans and cats – from prehistoric scimitar toothed predators and Paleolithic lion art to domestication, ship’s cats, witch trials and internet cats. It’s narrative non fiction rather than a coffee table photo book, so although there are a lot of photographs, expect to more focus on the text.
➤ Find it at Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Waterstones
★ The Penguin Book of Penguins – Peter Fretwell
Penguin expert Peter Fretwell from the British Antarctic Survey gives an accessible tour of eighteen penguin species – their evolution, behaviours, habitats, and their often fraught relationship with humans. It’s designed as a joyful but sobering gift book – it makes clear that penguins’ cult popularity hasn’t protected them: many colonies are threatened by overfishing, pollution and climate change, and Fretwell uses his research on emperor penguins in particular to show how they’re indicators of Antarctic ecosystem health. Includes black and white illustrations by his wife Lisa.
➤ Find it at Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Waterstones
★ Angela Harding's Seasonal Quartet
This pocket-sized series take readers on a journey through the seasons, featuring beautiful prints and observations by British print-maker and illustrator Angela Harding from landscapes across the UK. Each season features at least 30 gorgous prints, but if you collect her works, do be aware that the prints and text seem to be taken from three of her other larger collections, A Year Unfolding, Wild Light and Still Waters & Wild Waves.
➤ Find Boxed Set at Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Waterstones
➤ Find Spring Unfurled at Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Waterstones
➤ Find Summer’s Hum at Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Waterstones
➤ Find Falling into Autumn at Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Waterstones
➤ Find Winter’s Song at Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Waterstones
Nature Notes of an Edwardian Lady - Edith Holden
The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady was a bit of a phenomenon in the 1980s. Edith Holden was an English artist who specialised in painting plants and animals, and the writing and artworks in this new volume were created at the same time as those for Country Diary in 1905 and 1906, follows the seasons at Holden’s English home with her charming notes, diary entries, quotes, and her favourite poems. Sadly, she died only a few years after creating these works, drowing in the The Thames while collecting flowers from the riverbank.
The Rizzoli facsimiles of both these books are stunning – gorgeous heavy paper, quality bindings, and sewn pages.
➤ Find Nature Notes at Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Waterstones
➤ Find Country Diary at Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Waterstones
Aviary – Danae Panchaud & William A Ewing
A collection of stunning bird photographs from over fifty internationally recognized photographers. It’s an interesting presentation approach, collecting the works into six “acts” that explore the symbiotic relationship between humans and birds through art, documentary, fashion, portraiture, ornithology, and wildlife photography. (I’m simple, I love the wildlife photography the most!)
➤ Find it at Amazon | Barnes & Noble
The Book of Garden Flowers – Angie Lewin & Christopher Stocks, illustrated by Angie Lewin
This is the latest in a collection of pretty decorative nature books by this British artist and author pair (see also The Book of Wildflowers and the The Book of Pebbles). Accompanying the pretty flower paintings are stories, histories and useful information about growing the flowers if you’re into English gardens.
➤ Find it at Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Waterstones
Tell Your Dog I Love Them - Harriet Lowther
A gorgeous illustrated celebration of the joy, humour and devotion our canine friends bring to our lives. (It will also bring a smile to the face of any reader who has lived with anxiety!)
➤ Find it at Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Waterstones
Quirky Geekery
E Is for Edward: A Centennial Celebration of the Mischievous Mind of Edward Gorey - Gregory Hischak
A warm and comprehensive celebration of almost 50 years of Edward Gorey’s work – written by the Director of The Edward Gorey House, Gregory Hischak. It not only looks at Gorey’s work as author and illustrator, but also fabric artist, stage designer and playwright. The book is organized by the major themes and topics that characterize Gorey’s work like hapless children and mutant menageries, and explores his recurring motifs and the symbolism that underlies much of his work. Lots of full page images, white space, and fascinating text.
➤ Find it at Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Waterstones
★ The Language-Lover's Lexipedia: An A-Z of Linguistic Curiosities - Joshua Blackburn
A witty and absolutely fascinating curiosity cabinet of linguistic trivia – everyone who has picked it up and flipped to any page starts calling out, “wow, did you know… (“the ampersand has been around since before the Pompeii eruption!” “The dot above a lowercase i or j is called a tittle!” – And there’s a list of Scottish insults that was rather a hit as well)”. Which I have to say is a pretty good indicator of a trivia book.
We also have a copy of the game that spawned this book which is called League of the Lexicon – which they bill as the ultimate game for language lovers, and it really is full of fantastic questions that range from definitions and usage to trivia and tests of your linguistic creativity.
➤ Find US ed at Amazon | Barnes & Noble
➤ Find UK ed at Amazon | Waterstones
Physics for Cats - Tom Gauld
Scottish illustrator Tom Gauld has written some of my favourite literary cartoon collections, which I highly recommend if you haven’t seen them yet, but Physics for Cats is his second science based collection.
➤ Find US ed at Amazon | Barnes & Noble
➤ Find UK ed at Amazon | Waterstones
Asterix Albums 6-10
I included the first volume of this collection when it came out a couple of years ago, so am adding Vol 2 here for anyone who grabbed that one. These are lovely volumes with quarter cloth bindings, and vibrant comics within.
➤ Find Asterix Albums 6-10 at Amazon | Waterstones
➤ Find Asterix Albums 1-5 at Amazon | Waterstones
Uneasy Elixirs - Virginia Miller, illustrated by Edward Gorey
A collection of 50 potions – I mean, cocktails – inspired by Edward Gorey’s humorously macabre characters and settings. Some of the most popular cocktails inspired by Gorey’s characters include The Thumbfumble (inspired by The Curious Sofa), Miss Quartermourning’s Grief (inspired by The Other Statue), and The B is for Basil Julep (inspired by The Gashlycrumb Tinies).
➤ Find it at Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Waterstones
A Feast of Thorns and Roses – Chelsea Cole
Beautiful, flavorful recipes inspired by the Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J. Maas. (There’s even a romantasy cocktail book riffing off the same theme called A Coupe of Thorns and Roses, but I haven’t tried that one yet…)
➤ Find US ed at Amazon | Barnes & Noble
➤ Find UK ed at Amazon | Waterstones
0 Comments