A book with a beautiful cover as a gift for an intelligent woman

Try British Library Women Writers

If you want a beautiful cover, you're best sticking with the classics. Maybe try the folio hardbacks? They do all the biggies – Jane Austen, George Eliot, the Brontes, Virginia Woolf, etc. I'm a big fan of Aldous Huxley and recently found a load of gorgeous first edition hardbacks in a secondhand bookshop. I also have a beautiful edition of Wilde's Dorian Gray, which I found online.

Ah, yes, really wonderful book (beautiful cover too).

I spent a while reading reviews and samples (where possible) from all of the books mentioned thus far, and I've popped quite a few onto my wishlist. For the time being though, I've gone for The Goldfinch and The Secret History by Donna Tartt, The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, Heartburn by Nora Ephron, The Complete Fairy Stories of Oscar Wilde and Cuddy by Benjamin Myers. I've chosen special/anniversary editions where possible as they look completely fabulous.

I've also bought The Fascination by Essie Fox which will be a present for my son (late 20s) for his upcoming birthday, and I have my eye on a first edition of The Silence Factory which is beautiful and has some fabulous reviews. It's quite pricey, but I suspect that it might well fall into my shopping basket by the end of the day.

I was meant to be doing my Ocado online shop before I started reading this thread and now will have to pare back my food/alcohol requirements for the week, but it's been totally worth it. I've just loved reading the recommendations.

What have you sent for @Lollipopsicle - and did you choose by content or imprint?

A Month In The Country - there was an edition with a lovely woodblock print on the cover.

There's some brilliant book suggestions here, and I've just spent a small fortune ordering quite a few of them. I just love a book that's beautiful inside and out.

Buy the hardback not the paperback

You can buy it on Amazon

I bought it from Waterstones

I bought this for my Dad for Christmas who is an avid reader

It's a beautiful book and a great read too

It was a Times best seller if that helps

Not necessarily true, my most beautiful books, for looks or content are out and about around the house for people to pick up, and they do! I've had people pick one of the ones on the stairs table and bring it to me and we've had a chat about it!

I have my favourites on rotation too

If a gardening book would be appreciated Rachel de Thame has a new book out this week called ‘A flower garden for pollinators’.

If it's a book to read, it will go in a bookshelf once read and the cover will be obscured. But a book with purposeful illustrations will be picked up and put down time and time again.

How about an art book dedicated to a particular artist? These are great giftsL Beautiful inside and out. She'll likely leave it lying around the sitting room, so she can dip in and out of it.

Or a classic children's fairy tale illustrated by one of the classic illustrators, like Kay Nielson or John Patience. If she's >40, she'll get a sweet pang of nostalgia.

Anything by Kate Baylay = superb. The Folio books mentioned by PP are fabulous but very pricey.

It so depends what your friend likes, but this is my absolute favourite. It's a fantastic book to dip into or immerse yourself in, but it also looks and feels gorgeous. The spine is lovely, the size is perfect, the paper thick, and the writing is wicked! Angela Carter's Book Of Fairy Tales by Angela Carter | Waterstones

Phaidon do gorgeous books

@StrangeNew , quite easy - I have a lot of books but if I have one that I really CBA reading then it goes. Similarly a book that I enjoyed but am unlikely to read again that can go too.

If I have read a book and might want to refer to it again, I assess whether the information might date - a text book on technology or finance might be useful to someone else now but far less so in a few years' time.

Ok … I’m confused! (Not that it matters at all.)

@StrangeNew , my house is full of books. It reached saturation point years ago.

I don't tend to hold on to books once I've read them … I sort of feel obliged to let someone else benefit from reading the book

There’s nowt so queer as folk!

For me my library is another skin. And, truthfully, a house without books - bereft of comfort. (Though this argument has been had on MN countless times, so no need here!) Mostly my failed reading attempts happen via free Kindle samples of early chapters squirrelled away on my phone. Actually deleting a sample is a seriously negative critique in my head. I’m wary of lending physical books unless to a house guest or relative (too much experience) but probably recommend at least one book to another person every day - so I’m doing my fair share of sharing.

Oh I absolutely loved this. One of my favourite books ever, and the illustrations are glorious too.
Another good one is Heartburn by Nora Ephron. Beautiful cover, and it's by Nora Ephron. What's not to like?!

@StrangeNew , I don't tend to hold on to books once I've read them, and have a habit of abandoning a book when I have a few pages left so that it doesn't join the read pile.

I sort of feel obliged to let someone else benefit from reading the book. If I can't get past the first few pages of a book, I pass it on. I can always re-borrow or repurchase it should I want to.

I usually struggle with books as gifts. They tend to be worthy (e.g. prize winners) but not my taste.

I love receiving a book token.

Chiltern editions are beautiful. I have a couple.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pride-Predjudice-Jane-Austen/dp/1912714035/ref=asc_df_1912714035/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=310953066705&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=683333617788008056&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006539&hvtargid=pla-605975447030&psc=1&mcid=bc3134e607c738a29542d98b5677b440

They are breathtakingly beautiful objects. If only I could find one I actually want to get to the end of …

Not entirely serious - I can recommend Pond, by Claire-Louise Bennett, and I know Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, by Olga Tokarczuk has many fans. (Kathryn Hunter was tireless in the play; I must remember to seek out the film adaptation Spoor.) But I’m constantly starting Fitzcarraldo books and then wandering off, shamefaced …

Have a look at Goldsboro Books - they specialise in first editions and many have beautiful covers and sprayed edges.

https://goldsborobooks.com/

I have this copy of The Secret Garden - https://minalima.com/product/the-secret-garden-uk-edition/

It has beautiful illustrations and interactive elements. They do other classic children's tales like Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland. It's genuinely one my favourite gifts I've ever received.