The 10 Best coffee table books

Here are 10 captivating new titles to give your guests something to flick through in your front room

{1} Questions Without Answers: The World in Pictures from the Photographers of VII

A cracking photo-series sequence from the photo agency VII, which documents world history since the end of the Cold War.

£49.95, uk.phaidon.com

{2} London: Portrait of a City

A well-timed love letter to the capital and the site for the 2012 Olympics, the big, bold book takes us on a photographic tour down the ages and through the metropolis's higgledy-piggledy byways and highways, pausing only for the odd historical essay or quotation on the way. Out next week.

£44, taschen.com

{3} Louis Vuitton / Marc Jacobs by Pamela Golbin

Golbin's book is a visual feast and an absorbing account of the creative history of Louis Vuitton, from its early days in the 1850s through to Marc Jacobs' tenure as creative director.

£50, rizzoliusa.com

{4} Vitamin Green

Sustainability may be the watchword of our age but it can seem an austere doctrine. Not with this book, though, which takes us on a tour of the 100 most inspiring and handsome "green" buildings built in the 21st century.

£45, uk.phaidon.com

{5} Jennifer Post Pure Space by Anna Kasabian

A paean to elegant design and one of its most interesting progenitors. Kasabian's book is great for the professional, but just as interesting for those looking for ideas on decorating the sitting room.

£30, rizzoliusa.com

{6} Works by The Bouroullec Brothers

Here's one for serious design fans. This weighty tome documents the careers of Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, whose designs for interiors – Issey Miyake let them loose on his stores – and furniture have been described as "poetic practicalities", and which saw them win the grand prize at the Paris Furniture Fair while still in their early twenties.

£59.95, uk.phaidon.com

{7} Monsters in the Movies by John Landis

From space oddities to things that go bump (and squeal) in the night, John Landis takes a look at the freakiest, most jump-inducing and nightmare-creating monsters to appear on the big screen by way of 1,000 movie stillsand contributions from both horror film directors and actors.

£25, dk.co.uk

{8} Jazz Covers by Joaquim Paulo

The 1940s and 1950s were times of innovation in the jazz world, and as much as that meant bebop in the clubs, it also meant striking, innovative sleeves on the vinyl record.

£ 34.99, taschen.com

{9} The French Cat by Rachael Hale

Rachael Hale has trained her lens on possibly the most inscrutable and glamorous animal ever to stalk the Earth (and, indeed, its mice): the French cat.

£19.20, abramsbooks.com

{10} The Book of Books by Stephen Shore

This book is worthy of note, even if the price tag puts it beyond most of us. Whenever The New York Times deemed an event newsworthy enough to bestow a six-column headline, photographer and former Warhol Factory-goer Stephen Shore created a visual record of his day. The results captivated the photography world with their wit and candour.

£1,621, uk.phaidon.com