4 Ridiculously Expensive and Amazing Coffee Table Books

Coffee table books are often seen as a pretense, a way of buying more cultural currency or pretending to be more sophisticated.

Most of them sit around unopened, unloved. But, whatever we might think of them, some coffee table books are artefacts that have a great deal of cultural and historical significance. For that reason they often have a high price tag, as you will see from the list below…

Before They Pass Away by Jimmy Nelson

Part of Assouline’s Ultimate Collection, a range of special edition and pricey coffee table books, Gaia is Guy Laliberte’s tribute to Mother Earth. Founder of Cirque du Soleil, Laliberte spent eleven days on the International Space Station taking photographs of the globe from 220 miles away. The breathtaking images, with their colors and textures, were an attempt at raising awareness (what he called a “poetic social mission”) of the water issues facing humanity today. Compared to the rest of the list, it’s also relatively cheap at $875.

Are you a fan of coffee table books yourself? Which one is your favorite? Share it with us in the comments below or tweets us @mscareergirl!