Valentine’s Day: 5 table books to say “I love you” in a different way

Every year, Valentine’s Day brings back the same question: what to give when you want to please without falling into the mundane? Flowers seen and seen again, chocolates already consumed, impersonal gifts… What if, this time, we opted for presents that tell a story, stand the test of time and become real everyday companions? Table books embody this aesthetic, cultural and intimate gift. Placed on a coffee table or bookshelf, they fuel conversation and reverie. He or she loves fashion, art, illustration, cinema? so give them a thoughtful gift.

For those who lack inspiration but not standards, Paris Select has come up with a selection of five exceptional books, perfect for Valentine’s Day gifts, designed to appeal to aesthetes and culture buffs alike.

Jean Paul Gaultier: fashion shows – Fashion as a visual manifesto

This is the most comprehensive book ever published on Jean Paul Gaultier’s women’s collections. Through more than 1,300 carefully selected photographs, it retraces the designer’s forty years of fashion shows, from his beginnings in the late 1970s to his last show in 2020.
More than just a catalog, it’s a visual voyage that captures the rebellious spirit and creative energy of fashion’s enfant terrible. Iconic corsets, hijacked sailboats, daring silhouettes and stylistic breaks follow one another, revealing a designer who redefined the boundaries between masculine and feminine, art and fashion.

📘 Publisher: Éditions de La Martinière
💶 Price: approximately €59 (hardcover)

Assouline, Heart & Love collection Heart & Love, the icon of love

With Heart & Love, from Assouline’s Icons collection, love becomes a veritable objet d’art. Through the pages of this book, the greatest love stories, both real and mythical, intertwine and interweave. From the legendary romances of cinema to the iconic couples of contemporary culture, the book explores love as an infinite source of creation. Fashion, art, poetry, photography: all disciplines intersect, driven by a universal and timeless emotion. More than a book, Heart & Love is a visual and sensitive celebration of an elusive, omnipresent and deeply inspiring sentiment.

and also their cult decorating books: the object that sublimates interiors

Assouline books have acquired almost legendary status in the world of interior design. They are immediately recognizable by their luxurious covers and graphic visuals, which make them as much collectors’ items as cultural showcases. Each book plunges into a theme in its own right: travel, fashion, gastronomy, architecture or lifestyle.
To give an Assouline book on Valentine’s Day is to give a miniature work of art that dresses an interior while telling the story of a world. These books are as seductive for their content as for their aesthetic presence, transforming a simple shelf into a space of inspiration.

📘 Publisher: Assouline Publishing
💶 Price: generally between €75 and €150 depending on the title

Marc-Antoine Coulon: the art of the line as statement

For lovers of illustration and beautiful narrative books, Marc-Antoine Coulon ‘s works are elegant choices. The illustrator has created a unique visual universe, where his delicate lines capture emotions, attitudes and portraits with great finesse.
His latest book, dedicated to Catherine Deneuve, explores the French icon through drawings that reveal her grace, presence and modernity. Prior to this title, Coulon had already published a magnificent book devoted to Paris, a graphic tribute to the city and its scenes of life, silhouettes and atmospheres. These books are not mere illustrations: they are sensitive points of view on beauty and the art of living. Find out more about the book: Catherine Deneuve Reflets

💶 S uggested price: generally between €50 and €80 depending on format

Le Temps Chanel: the timeless elegance of an icon

This book, written by novelist and journalist Edmonde Charles-Roux, traces the life of Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel. First a daring milliner, then a visionary who revolutionized women’s allure in the XXᵉ century, Chanel is portrayed here in all her complexity: designer, businesswoman, muse and major cultural figure.
Richly illustrated, this book offers both a historical and aesthetic reading of the House of Chanel. It’s the perfect gift for anyone who loves a good story or admires French art, style and icons.

📘 Publisher: Éditions de La Martinière
💶 Price: approx. 45 € (revised and expanded edition)

Matisse: An exceptional immersion in the genius of color

This monumental work brings together over 300 works by the master of color, Henri Matisse: paintings, sculptures, drawings, engravings, paper cut-outs, fabrics, ceramics and stained glass.
Authors Claudine Grammont and Ellen McBreen invite the reader to explore Matisse’s work in depth, to understand how every surface, every nuance and every form is part of a visual art de vivre of rare intensity. This book is a celebration of artistic freedom and chromatic emotion, perfect for the aspiring art lover or collector.

📘 Publisher: Citadelles & Mazenod – a benchmark in fine art publishing
💶 Price: approx. €199

The icon collection

A table book for Valentine’s Day is more than just a gift. It’s an invitation to share a world, extend curiosity and enrich daily life. Whether through iconic fashion, the power of color, visual art, sensitive illustration or the story of a timeless icon, these books are gifts that last, are reread and, above all, are cherished.