Treat Yourself 2011: Gift Sets For The Very Good

I'm starting with the extravagant gift books for no other reason than that it's kind of nice to play J.C. Penney Catalog 1989 sometimes with the 800,000 gift guides out there, while acknowledging that they may not be in your budget or mine.

(Links are to publishers where I could find them; sure, use Amazon, and I do, but don't forget your local independent bookstore.)

For the aesthete: Whenever I see these Penguin Hardcover Classics with their old-timey printed cloth covers, the craftsmanship to them is just amazing. Single volumes are $20, or splurge on the Major Works of Charles Dickens (GREAT EXPECTATIONS, HARD TIMES, OLIVER TWIST, A CHRISTMAS CAROL, BLEAK HOUSE and A TALE OF TWO CITIES) for $125.

For the budding chef: Julia Child, you're so 2009. Raise the stakes with THE ESSENTIAL THOMAS KELLER ($63), a two-volume cookbook by the madman behind French Laundry and Bouchon. For the hipster chef at hipster pricing, look to Christina Tosi's MOMOFUKU MILK BAR ($22), purported to offer the secrets behind the East Village bakery. Compost cookies for everyone (note: much more delicious than it sounds).

For the fashion-minded (fashionista is kind of sexist, do you think?): Patrick Demarchelier's DIOR COUTURE ($70) for the old avant-garde; ALEXANDER MCQUEEN: SAVAGE BEAUTY ($45) for the new.

For those who can take a joke: By the time I got my first issue of MAD Magazine it was already in its sunset years (down to 6 issues/ year right now, from what I can find). Soon there will come a generation of kids who don't understand how a fold-in joke panel works... but by God, not this one. Chronicle Books just published THE MAD FOLD-IN COLLECTION, 1964-2010 ($125), whose digital reproductions mean you won't actually have to fold in the pages to get the joke.

For your favorite bartender, friend in imbibing, uncle or party host: It takes a university press to do service to such a serious subject as THE OXFORD COMPANION TO BEER ($65). Also consider for your recently-of-age sibling who could stand to learn a thing or two about the finer points of not drinking from kegs any more, ahem.