Shelf Life: Books

From New York street art to vintage fashion, check out what’s hitting bookstores this season.

By Viia Beaumanis

Photography by Lindsay Murrell

• Four-time Journey Prize nominee Craig Boyko’s witty first book, BLACKOUTS (McClelland & Stewart, $30), considers the difficulties of remaining true to yourself.
• WALKER'S WAY: MY YEARS WITH WALKER EVANS (PowerHouse, $38), illustrated with over 50 images, sees elegant Isabelle Storey reflect on her 10-year marriage to the noted photographer, 30 years her senior, a man who beguiled her with his charm, style, talent—and glittering social circle.
• Style writer Nick Foulkes captures the magic of one of New York’s most elegant, storied hotels in THE CARLYLE (Assouline, $75).
• New York Times perfume critic Chandler Burr’s second book on fragrance, THE PERFECT SCENT (Henry Holt & Co., $28), follows the creation of two perfumes at opposite ends of the industry’s spectrum: one for the luxe house of Hermès; the other, Sarah Jessica Parker’s signature scent for Coty.
• French photographer Le Bijoutier’s THIS MEANS NOTHING (PowerHouse, $38) documents a decade of New York street art in chalk, marker, stencil, paint and poster.
• Cataloguing the upper end, THE WORTH OF ART (2) (Assouline, $25) has Judith Benhamou-Huet weigh in on the price of priceless works.
• Academy Award–nominated costume designer Deborah Nadoolman Landis outfits her illustrated overview of silver-screen glam, DRESSED: A CENTURY OF HOLLYWOOD COSTUME DESIGN (CollinsDesign, $88), with an intro by stylish cinema star Anjelica Huston.
• A charming throwback in our digital age, architect William H. Fain Jr’s ITALIAN CITIES AND LANDSCAPES (Princeton Architectural Press, $30) collects sketches he rendered over a six-month fellowship in Rome.
• Paige West’s ART OF BUYING ART: AN INSIDER'S GUIDE TO COLLECTING CONTEMPORARY ART (CollinsDesign, $50) helps nascent collectors edit a field littered with choice.
• VINTAGE FASHION: COLLECTING AND WEARING DESIGNER CLASSICS, 1900–1990 (CollinsDesign, $47), by Emma Baxter-Wright with a foreword by Zandra Rhodes, mines the roots of fashion, highlighting designers who paved fashion’s way.