Photo courtesy of the Fondation Le Corbusier, Paris / Phaidon Press

If it hadn’t been for a certain dapper Swiss genius named Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris—Le Corbusier to you—the likes of Richard Meier and would still be playing with Legos. Perhaps the very first starchitect—and way cooler than Frank Lloyd Wright—the dapper fellow in the bowtie and black specs masterminded the Modern movement and laid the foundation, literally and figuratively, for all avant-garde design to come.

The Phaidon Press has just come out with a $200, 20-lb., 2,000-image tribute to this towering talent, entitled Le Courbusier: Le Grand. In it you can see how came up with groundbreaking designs for everything from chairs to skyscrapers, dressed to the nines all the way.

Photo courtesy of Steidl

A precious glimpse at one of the world’s most incredible photo collections from the golden age of Hollywood is to be found in Robert Dance’s opulent new book, Glamour of the Gods. The pix are all from the archives of John Kobal, who was one of the first to collect studio portraits of stars like Greta Garbo, Marlon Brando, Marlene Dietrich, Humphrey Bogart, Grace Kelly and Rita Hayworth, realizing they’d one day be equally important, if not more so, than the movies they made.

Above is Clarence Sinclair Bull’s incredibly elegant study of Gary Cooper, done for MGM in 1934, one of our favorite photos of all time. Further evidence, as if we required any, that they don’t make movie stars—or even photographs—like they used to.

You don’t hear much about biker culture as an influence on modern day designers, partly because the references are hard to name. John Varvatos usually gets a few references to The Wild One, but that’s like tracking British suiting back to James Bond. The look had to come from somewhere…

Rin Tanaka’s Harley-Davidson Book of Fashions gives a pretty good explanation of where. Covering the 1910-1950, Tanaka tracks the evolution of the bike from a useful novelty to a badge of outsider status, along with 40 years worth of bike helmets, any one of which would be enough to get a fledgling designer noticed.

With gas prices showing no signs of slowing, we may be on the cusp of a scooter renaissance, so the book couldn’t have come at a better time. It may not have our favorite biker jacket, but it’s got more inspiration than anything we’ve seen on the racks lately.

They may seem quaint and horribly rural, but the appeal of the circus has never quite disappeared. And, as Thom Browne recently reminded us, their influence is far from disappearing.

Taschen has just come out with a book that should be the perfect primer if you’re looking to brush up on your clowns. It’s called The Circus, 1870-1950, covering 80 years of traveling entertainment, complete with its own posters, stars and sense of style.

Step right up, step right up»

When the great Miles Davis was assembling his quintet in 1955 and chose a troubled young saxophonist named John Coltrane over more established and experienced players, many assumed the partnership wouldn’t last. While Davis was a reserved, dapper aesthete born to achievement, Coltrane was cut from coarser cloth but no less of a musical genius for that. Surely two such outsized talents were bound to clash, especially with the specter of Coltrane’s drug use looming overhead.

There were no pyrotechnics apart from the musical variety however, note Farah Jasmine Griffin and Salim Washington, authors of an illuminating book due out next week, Clawing at the Limits of Cool: Miles Davis, John Coltrane and the Greatest Jazz Collaboration Ever—because “Coltrane was too humble, and Miles was simply too cool.” And thank god for it, or they might never have gotten around to laying down Kind of Blue.

Photo © MPTV / Richard Miller, courtesy Pavilion Books

We won’t waste a lot of words here telling you just how fucking cool Steve McQueen was.

If you’ve been paying attention you already know all about it, and if not, well, that’s OK too, but let your education begin with the most stylish damn book to muscle its way onto our desk this season: Steve McQueen: A Life in Pictures.

The first thing that sets it apart from the pack is the sheer size of the thing; at 10” x 12” the level of detail, sartorial and otherwise, is simply incandescent. Above, by way of example, is a snap of the King of Cool in one of his Porsches at the Riverside Raceway circuit in ‘59.

Just one though—we don’t want to overload you….

Courtesy of Abrams Books

Tim Pilcher’s titillating new title, Erotic Comics: A Graphic History certainly covers the territory. Beginning with the salacious mosaics of antiquity—oh, those naughty Ancient Romans—and Japanese Shunga woodblocks, it travels through Hogarth’s London and the ostensibly repressed Victorian era to the Tijuana Bibles of the 1930s, the rise of men’s magazines following World War II and the underground “comix” era of the ’70s.

However, we’re partial to the ’50s and ’60s (as usual) and the work of fellows like Bill Ward (above) with his impossibly-proportioned pin-ups and burlesque queens. He drew more than 10,000 of them over the course of his career, more than any other such artist before or since, and his influence is still apparent today—just check out the cover of the Fratellis’ Costello Music for one.

When manga artist Takashi Murakami was first tapped to collaborate with Louis Vuitton, he opened our eyes to the burgeoning cultural renaissance taking place in Japan.

Now the Japanese avant-garde is getting the full treatment in Ian Luna’s Tokyolife: Art & Design, which showcases the work of over 80 creative types pushing the boundaries in those fields as well as architecture, film, photography and of course fashion. While some names like Nigo of A Bathing Ape are already widely familiar and influential, others have yet to make their mark on the West.

Here’s your primer.

Showing up too early for a Rolling Stones shoot has proved fruitless for many a young photographer, sent away with a sneer from a certain famous pair of lips. For John “Hoppy” Hopkins however, it was the beginning of something big.

When he arrived to take some pix of the band one day in the summer of 1964, the former physicist and the recalcitrant Stones frontman hit it off. Hopkins later recounted that Jagger said he was the only photographer whom he’d ever allowed to take his picture before lunch.

The moody result, above, is included in Hopkins’ genius new book, From the Hip: Photographs by John “Hoppy” Hopkins 1960-66.

More on Hopkins’s new masterpiece»

Between emosogyny and Terrell Owens, the weeping man has gotten a pretty bad rap. To right the wrong, Sam Taylor-Wood put together some of the most masculine players in Hollywood—including the machismo-filled Benicio del Toro above and a red-eyed entry from the new James Bond below.

The book is titled, simply enough, Crying Men, and offers example after example of men shedding masculine tears, presumably over weighty subjects like racism, global warming, and the unavailability of quality suiting.

Pics after the jump»

Lanky Sonic Youth frontman Thurston Moore is one of the few No Wave-ers to have achieved a measure of commercial success.

So its no wonder that he pays homage to the musical subculture that his hipster empire is founded upon in his cool new book, No Wave: Post-Punk. Underground. New York 1976-1980.

More on Moore»

Italian photographer and documentary filmmaker Fabio Paleari is best known for capturing one of the last interviews with Allen Ginsberg before his death in 1997. We assume he saw a similar window of opportunity with his latest subject, smack rocker Pete Doherty, who by all accounts should be dropping dead any minute now.

More on this momentous tome»

Today sees the release of the a new James Bond novel, entitled Devil May Care, celebrated by an aquatic release party in London, along with an accompanying press campaign. The novel is a one-off from British novelist Sebastian Faulks and finds Bond chasing a Blofield-esque villain through London, Paris and the Middle East. Much like the film series’ recent reboot with Casino Royale, the novel styles itself as a throwback, with action set in Bond’s heyday of 1967 and Faulks taking the unusual step of writing as Ian Fleming, which falls somewhere between marketing gimmick and postmodern conceit.

Through the kind of serendipity that can only arise from a PR department, the release coincides with Ian Fleming’s 100th birthday. Bond himself has been around for more than half that time: He’s nearing 55, making him older than Ronald McDonald but younger than Batman. And, like anyone who’s stuck around that many years, he’s been through more than a few adventures that everyone involved would prefer to forget.

Including Faulks himself, apparently»

Since it opened as a museum a year ago, Philip Johnson’s famous 1949 Glass House in New Canaan, CT has been flooded by both seekers after architectural wisdom and design junkies in general—so much so in fact, that all tours for the rest of 2008 are already sold out.

Your ticket inside»

On the heels of the Bond collection, we thought we’d take a closer look at the old Kempt bookshelf.

The Art of Manliness recently put up a list of the Essential Man’s Library, which seems like as good a place to start as any. After all, a well-stocked bookshelf is as vital as a well-cleaned floor if you’re trying to make an impression.

The 100 books range from middle-school English class fodder (Lord of the Flies, To Kill a Mockingbird) to dense philosophy (The Republic, Beyond Good and Evil), but there’s something oddly syllabus-like about it. After all, it would be nice to have something you’ll actually want to read»

It may be early, but we’re always up for a little Bond.

Celebrating the author’s 100th birthday—which is coming up next Wednesday—Penguin is revamping their catalog of Fleming-era Bond novels with new editions and, best of all, new covers. The striking images come courtesy of San Francisco-based artist Michael Gillette, who makes appropriately sensual use of watercolor. The type and colors do a good job of replicated the 60s milieu, while the women remind us of the books’ central appeal»

New York has changed a lot in the past thirty years, and though there’s a lot more glass and concrete than there used to be, there are still a few dinosaurs creaking around.

For instance, the Chelsea Hotel. Founded in 1883, the hotel was a favorite of Mark Twain, and in more counter-cultural days was host to Jack Kerouac, Leonard Cohen, Marilyn Monroe and Bob Dylan, gaining notoriety with the stabbing death of Nancy Spungen.

More pics and info on Inside: The Chelsea Hotel»

Whether it’s pools or stewardesses, we’re always curious to see the good life up close. The latest peek comes from Roger Moenks, who traversed the western world for pictures of the inheriting class in their natural habitat. The result is Inheriting Beauty, a quick tour of the ultra-rich.

More pics from Inheriting Beauty»

Photographer Brian Finke knows the friendly skies. Using magazine stories as a cover, he spent two years jaunting around the globe with some of the sexiest working women this side of the International Date Line. And he’s got the photographs—and knowledge—to prove it. His new photography book, out yesterday and aptly titled Flight Attendants, takes you behind the curtain at 30,000 feet.

After the jump, a few pearls of wisdom and a few more pics from a man with a ton a frequent flier miles»

If ever you find yourself in Maine, on a whale-watching expedition or, perhaps more likely, a hunt for the country’s best lobster roll, you can now dress the part.

Rogues Gallery, a small label known for its vintage inspired t-shirts and ultra soft flannel button-ups, has just opened its first shop at 41 Wharf Street in Portland. Located in a 19th Century industrial building, the store’s wrought-iron entryway, concrete slab walls and pine plank floors reflect the antiquated aesthetic the brand is known for. The store will carry the entire men’s line, and we hear that a women’s line is also in the works.

Because there’s nothing sexier than a woman in flannel.

Sixties star Steve McQueen’s rugged sportiness, authenticity and innate good taste are such that the likes of Ralph Lauren and Michael Kors have built whole collections around his stylistic legacy (yes, he’s the reason you’re wearing that shawl-collared sweater).

They and other fashion folk routinely pore over photos of the “King of Cool” for inspiration. And while a superb new book of pix—McQueen’s Machines: The Cars and Bikes of a Hollywood Icon—focuses

mainly on his automotive pursuits, they were such a major part of the actor’s panache this one’s no doubt destined for designers’ libraries as well.

More McQueen and his machines »

The good old-fashioned Zippo lighter is as much a part of any American male’s essential kit as a navy blazer or a decent pair of loafers. Though the ones we’ve collected over the years have been relegated to a dresser drawer since we stopped smoking some years ago, we like to think of them as more than mere reminders of a misspent youth. Our favorite, in well-burnished sterling silver, still sees service on special occasions when there are ladies present whose cigarettes require fire.

Thus we were delighted to see them treated as objets d’art»

There have been plenty of books devoted to James Bond over the years, most of them written for the kind of guys whose idea of a hot time is debating the relative merits of Holly Goodhead vs. Pussy Galore. 007 has never gotten the kind of visual treatment he deserves—odd for a fellow so focused on style.

The beautiful new James Bond Encyclopedia sets that to rights.»

Pop quiz: What has a $500 price tag, its own velvet-lined suitcase and more melons than the fruit aisle at Whole Foods? Playboy: The Complete Centerfolds, the new 720-page, 32-pound limited edition due out from Chronicle Books on Thanksgiving Day.

Hugh Hefner has been fulfilling male fantasies with a heavy dose of fromage since 1953, and he’s probably bedded the lion’s share of the 600-plus pinups inside—and paid for plenty of implants along the way.

But yes, you can read it for the articles.