O Come All Ye Faithful Readers

By Stefan Kanfer and Richard Stengel

THE LAST WILDERNESS by the Canadian Nature Federation and Freeman Patterson (Rizzoli; $50)

One hundred and forty photographs equal one editorial. It argues eloquently for the preservation of Canada's vast but endangered forests, locales where fish school in crystalline water and polar bears wander over surfaces as yet unmarked by the snowmobile.

THE PRADO by Santiago Alcolea Blanch (Abrams; $95)

No wonder connoisseurs call it the museum lover's museum. The Madrid structure has works by virtually every consequential artist, from the medieval masters to the Italian, Flemish and Dutch schools to Spain's most prominent painter, Picasso, whose monumental Guernica has come home after nearly 50 years of exile.

ISLAMIC ART AND PATRONAGE edited by Esin Atil (Rizzoli; $65)

More than 100 of Kuwait's artistic treasures are on view in this extraordinary exhibit without walls. It demonstrates anew that war is not the Middle East's only legacy. The region remains a primary font of religious and aesthetic genius.

APPEARANCES by Martin Harrison (Rizzoli; $65)

Style is substance, and fashion follows form in this collection of strikingly seductive fashion photographs since 1945. From Richard Avedon's dramatic compositions to Irving Penn's crisp images to Deborah Turbeville's diaphanous fantasies, these images reflect the vision of the photographer far more than the fashions they are designed to sell.

BEDS by Diane Von Furstenberg and Stewart O'Shields (Bantam; $35)

The bed has always been the still point of a turning life. From the plush regal litter of the empress Josephine to the spartan mattress of the painter Francesco Clemente to the author's own seductive boudoir, the beds depicted in this dreamy book are not simply places to sleep but shrines to art, imagination and fantasy.

THE SISTINE CHAPEL by Frederick Hartt, Fabrizio Mancinelli and Gianluigi Colalucci (Knopf; two volumes; $1,000)

Michelangelo's mission was to reveal the beauty of God's creation; these books reveal the beauty of Michelangelo's creation. Scholars once spoke of the artist's "sober coloring." These sumptuous volumes, depicting the chapel's restoration, reveal just how wrong they were.

THE ATLANTIC SALMON FLY by Judith Dunham and John Clayton (Chronicle Books; $39.95)

Forget the fish, the flies that attract them are so exquisite it seems a sin to get them wet. With such tantalizing names as Silver Monkey, Colonel's Lady, Pompadour and Easy Off, the flies in this beautifully photographed book are the real trophies that should be mounted on the wall.

CUFF LINKS by Susan Jonas and Marilyn Nissenson (Abrams; $35)

Since the 18th century, cuff links have been the way for a man to wear his art on his sleeve. They bring a touch of elegance to the male uniform of tuxedo or business suit. This richly illustrated book, which features cuff links ranging from the sporty -- fishing flies under crystal -- to the fanciful -- a pair of gold nuts and bolts -- will make every man yearn for French cuffs.

THE ART OF MICKEY MOUSE edited by Craig Yoe and Janet Morra-Yoe (Hyperion; $35)

Andy Warhol draws and quarters him on silk screen. Bob Buccella places Mickey's hat on Van Gogh -- minus one ear. Keith Haring and many other artists & similarly deconstruct their subject, but Disney's founding rodent keeps smiling, confident that he will outlast them all.

THE CELTS edited by Sabatino Moscati, Otto Hermann Frey, Venceslas Kruta, Barry Raftery and Miklos Szabo (Rizzoli; $85)

To the people of ancient Greece and Rome, the Celtic world B.C. was narrow and barbaric. Actually it reached from the British Isles to Asia Minor and had a highly developed civilization -- as shown by finely wrought objects in bronze, silver and glass.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF IRELAND (Collins; $45)

On May 17, 1991, 75 photojournalists fanned out over the Emerald Isle for a period of 24 hours. The resulting contrasts are lyric enough for poetry (brides and nuns, musicians and farmers) or too bitter for words (glowering British soldiers in Belfast, homeless Dubliners sheltering in an abandoned car).

GEMS OF COSTUME JEWELRY by Gabriele Greindl (Abbeville; $65)

Rhinestone, long a synonym for the meretricious, has its reputation restored in a glamorous collection of brooches, necklaces, tiaras, shoe buckles, bracelets and earrings. Then again, even Styrofoam would glitter on such icons as Marlene Dietrich, Bette Davis, Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn.

THE AMERICAN BILLBOARD 100 YEARS by James Fraser (Abrams; $49.50)

The billboard seems just the right size for the American landscape, while its boldness seems the perfect mirror for the American sensibility. From the sentimental images that sold soap in the 1920s through the stark, wordless Nike billboards of today, this book traces the evolution of a quintessential form of American advertising.

THE SPLENDOR OF FRANCE by Laure Maurat and Roberto Schezen (Rizzoli; $110)

Some 40 very private residences are opened to voyeurs of exquisite architecture, interiors, private wineries and landscaped gardens. Fully restored after centuries of war and revolution, these chateaus prove that when the French say a man's home is his castle, they mean it literally.

ACTING HOLLYWOOD STYLE by Foster Hirsch (Abrams; $60)

In dazzling photographs and sprightly prose, Acting Hollywood Style probes how and why movie stars move us. The author dissects Hollywood acting through discussions of body language, voice and the landscape of the face -- how we read emotions into the luminous but blank gaze of Greta Garbo.

FOSSILS by Niles Eldredge and Murray Alcosser (Abrams; $60)

; Ancient bones are the first stop-motion pictures of evolution -- life frozen in its tracks eons and epochs ago. Astonishing photographs examine the evidence of prehistoric dragonflies, early fish, flying reptiles, horned dinosaurs and human ancestors. A lively text explains the close-ups from nature's family album.

ARTS & CRAFTS STYLE by Isabelle Anscombe (Rizzoli; $50)

In the 1870s an influential movement, based on the medieval craft guilds, managed to overthrow the "gigantic weariness" of Victorian design. Philosophers and artisans worked together, raising tables and chairs, textiles, kitchenware -- even fireplace ornaments -- to the realm of art. Their achievements still glow in this profuse and discerning history.

TICKET TO PARADISE by John Margolies and Emily Gwathmey (Bulfinch; $29.95)

Every American town had its Roxy, its Bijou, its Majestic. The great movie theaters built between the '20s and the '50s were cathedrals of popular culture. This book provides a sentimental journey to these palaces, evoking a time when life seemed like a Saturday matinee.