by Jean-Marie Pérouse de Montclos (The Vendome Press, New York City), $85.

Readily known as “The City of Love” and a hot spot for art afficionados, Paris draws more than 50 million visitors each year. In this 708-page volume, French architecture expert Jean-Marie Pérouse de Montclos provides scores of detailed biographies and numerous chronologies, maps and plans complementing this history of Paris’s contribution to the arts. Illustrated with more than 800 color photographs, the book discusses Paris’s unique art and architecture, from the city’s birth as a part of the Roman Empire to its transformation into a modern metropolis. The book focuses specifically on periods when Parisian culture blossomed to produce Gothic cathedrals, royal residences—including the Louvre and Versailles—and masterpieces from the Neoclassical period up to the era of modern masters such as Cézanne, Matisse and Picasso.