Annie Leibovitz, XXL Edition Book

From his humble beginning selling comic books in his native Cologne to his rapidly expanding book publishing empire, Benedikt Taschen has been all about living large — literally. Sumo, a 464-page, 66-pound compendium of Helmut Newton’s photography is one of the largest and heaviest books ever produced — it comes with its own display stand — and among the most expensive, too. The first copy in a limited edition published in 1999 and signed by many of the celebrities whose images appear in its pages sold at auction for $364,000.

TASCHEN’s success derives from his personality: he publishes books that reflect his own diverse personal enthusiasms. TASCHEN’s lavishly produced art books run the gamut from the ridiculous (The Big Book of Breasts) to the sublime (17th-century naturalist Albertus Seba’s Cabinet of Natural Curiosities).

The TASCHEN catalog includes scholarly examinations of cultural icons such as Muhammad Ali, gorgeous monographs on painters like Hieronymous Bosch, exquisite books of photography like Sebastião Selgado’s Genesis and portfolios of muscle cars. In addition to his 11 bookstores located in the United States and Europe, TASCHEN recently opened an art gallery in Los Angeles devoted to photography.

As you can see from the titles available on these pages, you are more than likely to have an interest in common with Benedikt Taschen — and his marvelous books give you a way to explore it fully.

Annie Leibovitz is arguably one of the best-known photographers in the world. 

Few photographers are household names. Even fewer can claim that the portraits they create are often as famous as the subjects they depict. Leibovitz qualifies on both counts.

Leibovitz has provided the public with views of movie stars, politicians, athletes, artists — you name it. Being shot by Leibovitz has been a rite of passage for celebrities of every stripe for decades: You’re not really famous until you’ve sat for her.

Graydon Carter, the longtime editor in chief of Vanity Fair, where Leibovitz has been on staff since 1983, compares her to both Frans Hals, a Dutch master of the formal portrait, and Jane Austen, a knowing chronicler of her epoch.

Although she’s technically inched past the age of retirement, Leibovitz shows no signs of slowing down — the whole world remembers the buzz over the gorgeous, groundbreaking photos she took of Caitlyn Jenner for the cover of Vanity Fair, but the hubbub surrounding the Jenner images was nothing new for the acclaimed photographer. 

Throughout her career, Leibovitz has created portraits that generate cultural conversation, whether outraged, admiring, shocked or some amalgam of all three.

In celebration of the artist's incomparable work ethic, shop some of Annie Leibovitz's most revered photography on 1stDibs.