Books furnish a room, they say. A casually displayed weighty tome or pile of glossy magazines speaks volumes (yes, I know) about your taste and interests. They are a sign that you actually think. Now, I’m not going as far as cult film director John Waters (*see below), but a room without books? Come on!

Christmas is a perfect time to give a coffee-table book as a present. You can indulge someone’s private passion or introduce them to one of yours, it doesn’t really matter – a really sumptuous pictorial book feeds the eyes and the brain.