Books: Items and Icons books

Secret Gardens of Santa Fe, by Sydney LeBlanc, photographs by Charles Mann, Rizzoli, pounds 29.95 (below). Hidden behind the adobe walls of this arid city, exquisite gardens thrive. This book tours 18 beautifully kept private gardens, also taking in one of the city's oldest horticultural treasures, the public garden at El Zaguan. The gardeners' creations range from classic Victorian flower gardens, bursting with colour, to Japanese Zen gardens, whose minimalist design provokes calm and contemplation.

Architectural Glass Art: Form and Technique in Contemporary Glass, by Andrew Moor, Mitchell Beazley, pounds 30 (above). Glass art has escaped the confines of church architecture, to play an increasingly important role in building design. Each chapter focuses on a different technique, and contains a discussion of the designs of a renowned artist - such as Danny Lane and Graham Jones. The illustrations not only focus on the works themselves, but also show how glass art is incorporated into a building's structure and style - such as Patrick Heron's window at the Tate Gallery at St Ives, Cornwall (pictured).

Skyscapes, by Jean Odermatt, Scalo, pounds 33.50 (top right). A remarkable collection of photographs taken in the Gotthard - the majestic mountain barrier between Switzerland and Italy which the author has been exploring since 1983. In particular, the book shows the way the landscape is altered by weather features and different seasons.

Stone-built Contemporary American Houses, by Lee Goff, The Monacelli Press, pounds 40 (right). This volume looks at 27 homes in styles from classical to post- modern, set against various coastal and rural landscapes across the US - pictured is a Long Island residence by architects Barnes Coy. In each case, Goff discusses the design of the house with the architect, the decision to use stone and the building process.

Manhattan in Maps 1527-1995, by Paul E Cohen and Robert T Augustyn, Rizzoli, pounds 35 (right).

Collected from archives and libraries throughout the world, these maps chronicle the growth of America's oldest city - through from its origins as the bustling Dutch trading outpost of New Amsterdam in the 16th century, to its status as a British colony in the 17th and 18th, the development of the Manhattan grid in the 19th, and to the modern metropolis in the 20th - as shown by the latest satellite photographs. Other maps give an insight into the social and political life of the city, covering subjects such as ethnic neighbourhoods, midtown vice and the subway system.

Botero: New Works On Canvas, interview by Ana Mara Escalln, Rizzoli, pounds 39.50 (left). A chronicle of the works of Colombian artist Fernando Botero from 1982 to the present, the majority of which have never been published before. The accompanying text is culled from extensive conversations between Botero and the author, in which it emerges that Botero regards painting as a `physical necessity', claiming that `when I think of reality, I think of a painted reality'. True, reality does look rather dull when placed next to Botero's rotund figures, vibrant colourings, exaggerated still life, and cheering art-historical parodies such as The Arnolfini after Van Eyck (pictured).

Cultivating Sacred Space: Gardening For The Soul, by Elizabeth Murray, Pomegranate, pounds 19.95 (below). A firm believer that cultivating a garden can contribute to a general sense of well-being, Elizabeth Murray encourages us to transform our gardens into places of recreation, meditation and sanctuary. Taking the reader through the horticultural year from winter to autumn, the book gives practical advice on tending and getting the most - both physically and spiritually - out of the garden. Photographs of Balinese, Feng Shui and Buddhist Japanese gardens - together with paintings by artists such as Monet and Botticelli - provide inspiration.

Molyneux, by Michael Frank, Rizzoli, pounds 39.50 (left). The first volume devoted to this New York-based designer's work, this is a photographic record of more than a dozen of Juan Pablo Molyneux's most recent interior design projects. Molyneux's work is characterised by his audacious but erudite blending of different centuries and different cultures - 18th-century French armchairs, 17th-century Florentine tables and paintings by Picasso and Bacon placed together in the living room of a Palm Beach house, for instance - and use of trompe l'oeil decoration, as in the Pompeiian gallery in a Park Avenue penthouse (pictured).

Scott Hughes