The gift of print will kindle the imagination

Without a doubt, there will be a zillion Kindles and iPads given as gifts this holiday season. But there are still things an e-reader can't do. Through paintings, photographs, even comic strips, these handsomely illustrated books celebrate the power of the printed image to capture our imaginations.

For the historian

The title of Bob Zeller and John J. Richter's "Lincoln in 3-D: Amazing and Rare Stereoscopic Views of His Life and Times" (Chronicle, $35) is slightly - and happily - misleading. The book includes a few stately portraits of the president, as well as intriguing images of his family, his cabinet, his delivery of the Gettysburg Address and, movingly, his funeral procession. But the majority of the stereoscope photos collected here, viewable with an accompanying set of cardboard glasses, offers an eye-popping glimpse of Civil War-era America, from soldiers at Antietam to panoramic views of Washington and Fort Sumter to heartbreaking scenes of plantation life.

For the fashionista

Allure, said Diana Vreeland, is "something around you, like a perfume or like a scent . . . it pervades." First published in 1980, the handsomely reissued "Allure" (Chronicle, $35) is a scrapbook of photographs, both posed and candid, of the fashion plates who possessed that ineffable quality and who inspired the legendary Vogue editor. Portraits by Edward Steichen, Cecil Beaton and others of such standard-bearers of beauty as Audrey Hepburn and a young, crazy-haired Mick Jagger are present and accounted for - but just as many images are intriguingly freaky: a manic Maria Callas, anime-eyed '60s model Penelope Tree and startling scenes from an eyelift operation.

For the cash-strapped adventure traveler

If empty pockets means giving up that trip to the Far East this year, consider visiting through the lens of little-known 19th-century photographer Felice Beato. Born in Italy, Beato traveled through India, China and Burma, taking sympathetic portraits of native people and painterly images of imposing temples and intricate gardens. "Felice Beato: A Photographer on the Eastern Road" (Getty, $39.95) also collects his scenes of the last years of Japanese feudalism, with flamboyant samurai and women in elaborate ceremonial dress.

For the millionaire and his wife

The pleasure of reading the Neiman Marcus Christmas catalog has always been browsing for the things you would never buy: in 1967, a pair of camels (cost: $4,125); in 1981, robot servants ($15,000); in 2008, "his & hers" life-size replicas of the giftees made from Legos ($60,000). Does anyone actually purchase these preposterous gifts? Who knows? But "Over the Top: Fifty Years of Fantasy Gifts From the Neiman Marcus Christmas Catalogue" (Assouline, $50) offers us a highly amusing glimpse of how the other half lives - or how we like to think it lives.

For the music enthusiast

It's hard enough to capture the excitement of rock music in a still photograph. Back in the 1970s, Kevin Cummins went one better, constructing a chronicle of one legendary punk band. The black-and-white images in "Joy Division" (Rizzoli, $45) trace the quartet as they wander through the streets of gray, industrial Manchester, their hometown; and document the kinetic, pained, live performances of lead singer Ian Curtis, whose suicide at age 23 brought the group to a dramatic end. Cummins' photos skillfully evoke the mood of Joy Division's famously desolate music.

For the Anglophile 

British art of the mid 20th century is a well-kept secret. That's a shame, as so many of the country's painters - including Edward Bawden, Eric Ravilious and John Piper - produced utterly charming scenes of small-town life and the idyllic English landscape. Two new books, "Art for Everyone" and "The School Prints" (Antique Collectors Club, $25 each) relate the histories of idealistic schemes to bring the art to schoolchildren by having contemporary artists create original lithographs for classroom use. The prints, reproduced here, are both sweetly innocent and formally inventive.

For the nostalgic New Yorker

New York has been photographed for a century and a half, but it never looks so idyllic as on the front of a picture postcard, where shiny skyscrapers rub up against flawless blue skies. "New York in Postcards 1880-1980" (University of Chicago, $65) reproduces a whopping 4,000 specimens from the collection of architect Andreas Adam, revealing a lost city of palatial restaurants, busy immigrant ghettos and elevated railways. There are cards that feature the work of famous photographers, such as Lewis Hine and Weegee, as well as loopy visions of the city - a 1910 rendering of the "future" skyline is stocked with airships and dirigibles.

For the sports nut

"Say It Loud: An Illustrated History of the Black Athlete" (Ballantine/ESPN) is a stirring portrait gallery that encompasses not only household names, from Joe Louis to Tiger Woods, but unearths the stories of forgotten but remarkable figures: Isaac Murphy, a 19th-century jockey who won the Kentucky Derby three times; Althea Gibson, a self-proclaimed "street rebel" turned tennis champion; and Dr. Edwin Bancroft Henderson, the first African-American teacher of physical education, who introduced basketball to black communities.

For the art lover 

The Edo-period artist Hokusai, who captured the Japanese landscape in majestic paintings and woodcuts, has never been better served than by Matthi Forrer's "Hokusai" (Prestel, $150), a massive, sumptuously produced monograph that sheds light on his lesser-known works: images of the "floating world" of theaters and brothels. Hokusai influenced generations of Western artists - you can easily see his imprint in "Thirty-Six Views of the Eiffel Tower" (Chronicle, $22.95), a reproduction of an enchanting 1902 book of prints by Henri Rivière, who was inspired by the Japanese master's similarly titled series on Mount Fuji. Each of Rivière's Paris scenes expresses his fascination with the great landmark, whether it's viewed in the distance from the fields outside the city or seen from within its framework of girders.

For the shutterbug

Eadweard Muybridge is famous for his "motion studies," multiple images taken at split-second intervals that used the new technology of the camera to illustrate human and animal locomotion. "Helios: Eadweard Muybridge in a Time of Change" (Steidl, $80) recounts the career of a restless figure, whose travels led to evocative photographs of Central America and the West. Muybridge's landscapes of Yosemite anticipate the work of Ansel Adams, and his panoramas of San Francisco are fascinating portraits of a new city on the rise.

For the funnies fan

Now that Doonesbury is entering middle age - and now that American politics have become more surreal than ever - it's the perfect time to look back at the long history of Gary Trudeau's daily comic strip. There are more than 1,000 panels reproduced in "40: A Doonesbury Retrospective" (Andrews McMeel, $100), as well as essays that take in-depth looks at the cartoon's protagonists. But the book's real selling point might just be the essential four-page foldout chart that maps the complicated, shifting relationships of the key characters. 

For the American patriot

In 2008, beloved artist and illustrator Maira Kalman marked a historic election year by keeping a visual diary for The New York Times website. Kalman traveled around the United States in a quest to see democracy in action; the many stops on her journey included the Supreme Court, an army base and Thomas Jefferson's Monticello. "And the Pursuit of Happiness" (Penguin Press, $29.95) collects her series of captioned paintings and photographs between two covers. The result is delightful - an optimistic look at our country that holds out hope for the best in American dreams and instincts.