(1) Bring the pages into focus with Judith Leiber’s collapsible eyeglasses ($350; 987 Madison Ave., nr. 77th St.; 212-327-4003).

(2) The Line of Beauty, by Alan Hollinghurst ($24.95). This year’s Booker Prize winner is perfect for sensitive Anglophiles.

Buy it online (barnesandnoble.com)

(3) Chronicles, Volume One, by Bob Dylan ($24). Even non-fans will appreciate this eccentric, entertaining memoir.

Buy it online (barnesandnoble.com)

(4) Robert Frank: Storylines ($40). A great American photographer’s retrospective.

Buy it online (barnesandnoble.com)

(5) Art of Modern Rock: The Poster Explosion, by Paul Grushkin and Dennis King ($60). You thought rock art was dead? Think again.

Buy it online (barnesandnoble.com)

(6) Ocean Flowers: Impressions From Nature, edited by Carol Armstrong and Catherine de Zegher ($49.95). For green thumbs, mid-nineteenth-century botanical drawings.

Buy it online (barnesandnoble.com)

(7) His Excellency: George Washington, by Joseph J. Ellis ($26.95). A magisterial gloss on an essential life.

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(8) The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death, by Corrine May Botz ($35). CSI buffs will love this examination of forties crime-scene techniques.

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(8) High School, by Jona Frank ($35). Portraits of teenagers, for that angst-ridden relative.

Buy it online (amazon.com)

(10) History of Beauty, by Umberto Eco ($40). Gorgeous illustrations make for accessible braininess.

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(11) Arthur Schwartz’s New York City Food ($45). The culinary scene dissected.

Buy it online (barnesandnoble.com)

Related:

• Archive: “Features”
• Table of Contents: December 13, 2004 issue of New York | Subscribe!