"Tiffany Style" by John Loring (Abrams; $50.)

As elegant as its subject, the "Tiffany Style" book by the firm's longtime design director and author of several other books on the subject presents the 170-year history of the quintessentially upscale jewelry and decorative objects purveyor told through photographs of some of its most outstanding pieces, from the seed pearl set Mary Todd Lincoln purchased by her husband, which she wore to his 1861 Inaugural Ball (in a Matthew Brady photograph), to an elaborate dragonfly hair ornament designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany, to contemporary pieces by Paloma Picasso, Elsa Peretti and Frank Gehry, shot by such distinguished photographers as Edward Steichen, Horst and Richard Avedon. There are also such impressive gold and silver decorative objects by Edward C. Moore, Paulding Farnham, Van Day Truex, and John T. Curran, and stained glass, art pottery, and enameled copper pieces by Tiffany himself. So if you can't afford a gift in that distinctive blue box, you might consider this book instead.

"Modern Americana: Studio Furniture From High Craft To High Glam" by Todd Merrill and Julie V. Iovine (Rizzoli; $75).

This book takes a novel approach to mid- to late- 20th century American furniture, spotlighting the major studio artisan-designers, rather than presenting the usual catalogue of mass-produced pieces made by the likes of Knoll and Herman Miller. Such key figures as Wendell Castle, George Nakashima, Karl Springer, Paul Evans, and many others had the freedom to maintain aesthetic control over the entre creative process, leading to some wildly innovative designs. The book, which covers 27 designers, is lavishly illustrated with not only individual pieces, but documentary photographs of the designers and their studios, examples of their preliminary drawings, and glamorous — verging on campy — interior shots.

"The Art Of Romance: Mills & Boon And Harlequin Cover Designs" by Joanna Bowring and Margaret O'Brien (Prestel; $25)

They're not exactly bodice-rippers or as dramatic as pulp fiction covers, but the romance novel art displayed in this book, dating back to the 1908 launch of Mills & Boon, the United Kingdom's leading romance fiction publisher, has a nostalgic charm and glamour all its own. Starting as a general publisher (P.G. Wodehouse, Jack London), the firm began to focus on women's fiction in the 1920s, much of it with exotic themes ("A Sultan's Slave"), and the illustrations depicted here reflect both social and graphic change, though in the end, it's the stereotypical characters that endure-the tall, dark, handsome rugged hero — be he explorer, doctor, or pilot, and the young blue- or green-eyed heroine wrapped in his embrace. Quite a hoot.

"Hollywood Dreams Made Real: Irving Thalberg And The Rise Of M.G.M." by Mark A. Vieira (Abrams: $50).

Though the subject of this book is Irving Thalberg, the "Boy Wonder" of Hollywood, who was running a major studio by the age of 20 and died at 37, it's also a visual treat, with a photographic focus on the stars he discovered and nurtured at first Universal, and then MGM, where, in a spectacular career, he was responsible for such classic films as "Ben Hur," "Grand Hotel," and "Tarzan the Ape Man." It was Thalberg — rather than Louis B. Mayer, who was the real architect of the Hollywood studio system; a brilliant producer himself, responsible for such enduring practices as the story conference and the sneak preview. Vieira, building on such resources as the unpublished recollections of Thalberg's wife Norma Shearer, tells the story from its silent period beginnings in impressive detail, but it's the impeccably reproduced photographs — by Hurrell and the other masters of the form — the glistening bare-chested Johnny Weissmuller, young Lucille LeSueur before and after she became Joan Crawford, and many intimate shots of Thalberg and Shearer, that are most striking.

Linda Rosenkrantz has edited Auction magazine and authored 18 books, including "Cool Names for Babies" and "The Baby Name Bible" (St. Martin's Press). Visit her baby names website at http://nameberry.com. She cannot answer letters personally. To find out more about Linda Rosenkrantz and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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