Every month we’ll be recommending our favorite, fabulous, rare, big and beautiful books from the KD Design Library. Put these babies on your coffee table and your guests won’t be able to put them down (or sometimes so heavy they won’t be able to pick them up!)

September: “Back to School” Essentials:

1.  Sayn-Wittgenstein Collection Photographs by Princess Marianne Sayn-Wittgenstein (2006) 

Marianne, Dowager Princess zu Sayn-Wittgenstein is a 97-year-old Princess who really lived la dolce vita, (or whatever the German translation of that is). A talented photographer she is something of the Slim Aarons of the European aristocratic set, except an actual Princess, not that the Sayn-Wittgensteins are the Bourbons, but still pretty glamorous. Anyway, this book is like getting invited onto the chicest yacht in the Mediterranean – one last gasp of summer before its time for fall jackets. Speaking of ... there are also some wonderful Alps skiing photos to get you excited for winter.

2. Miss Piggy’s Guide to Life by Miss Piggy, as told to Henry Beard (1981)

If you have kids heading off into the world for the first time, this book has tons of great advice. For example:

• On Kissing on the First Date: Here is my little rule: If he picks up the check, give him a peck; if it was Dutch, no such luck.
• On Traveling: Never begin a trip of any kind before noon.
• On Being the Perfect Party Guest: Never offer to bring anything, it implies the hosts are too incompetent to shop or cook for themselves.  Never bring a “gift”. A small gift will be graciously accepted and then tossed in the garbage. A lavish gift could be awkward because they might mistake you for a delivery person and tip you. On the other hand, it is very acceptable to receive a gift, also to ask where it’s from and how much it costs. 

Also there is an entire chapter called: How to Avoid Weight Loss in the Lean Years

3. London Birth of a Cult: Hedi Slimane (2005)

There’s nothing like those fresh fall concerts at which you sweat your @#@#@ off. Hedi Slimane has been a “/slash photographer” for almost as long as he has been the darling of the fashion world (Dior then YSL) and never was he more in his element than in the early aughts following around British rocker Pete Doherty of the Libertines and then Baby Shambles. (This is right before he started dating Kate Moss.) This gorgeously designed photo book captures the band, its fans, London and perhaps the very essence of “cool” itself, which appears to smell really, really bad. Happy Fall!