Deck The Halls with Sumptuous Volumes

MASTERPIECES OF JAPANESE SCREEN PAINTING by Miyeko Murase (Braziller; $150). The aphorism "Poetry is painting, painting is mute poetry" is exemplified in these 37 exquisite screens painted between the 15th and 19th centuries. A boldly abstract rendering of blue irises from the Edo period is as striking and modern as a Matisse cutout.

THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BAD TASTE by Jane and Michael Stern (HarperCollins; $29.99). If it weren't for bad taste, most people wouldn't have any taste at all. That seems to be the thesis of this arch and witty catalog of American kitsch. A sampler: Nehru jackets, vanity license plates, bell-bottoms. The authors treat their subject with affection and condescension; in other words, they are tasteful about bad taste.

SURVIVORS by James Balog (Abrams; $49.50). The Florida panther and other endangered fauna are placed in the unaccustomed atmosphere of a studio, where they sit for their portraits. Suffused with an eerie light, they take on the dignity and importance of icons and give the matter of survival a fresh urgency and new focus.

PAINTINGS IN THE HERMITAGE by Colin Eisler (Stewart, Tabori & Chang; $85). Catherine the Great started it. She acquired important paintings, and her collection became the nucleus of the Leningrad museum. Velasquez, Rubens, Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Picasso: no visitor has seen all that is pictured here; the book itself amounts to a work of art.

THE FAUVE LANDSCAPE by Judi Freeman (Abbeville; $65). From 1904 to 1908, a group of painters changed the history of modern art. Their startling palettes and images are celebrated by an authority who agrees with one of them, a painter named Henri Matisse: "Fauve painting is not everything, but it is the foundation of everything."

AMISH: THE ART OF THE QUILT by Robert Hughes (Knopf/Callaway; $100). These spare yet sumptuous squares reflect the cardinal virtues of their Amish makers: simplicity and practicality. Made between 1870 and 1950 in Lancaster County, Pa., they foreshadowed the geometric art of the '60s and the minimalism that followed. And unlike those paintings, they also keep you warm at night.

AFRICAN ARK by Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher (Abrams; $65). Ethiopia has suffered greatly in this century, but famine and political upheaval have never dimmed its natural wonders and social vibrance. Two photographers have brilliantly captured the essence of the leopard-colored land, as well as the haunting rites of people who still rock the cradle of mankind.

EARRINGS by Daniela Mascetti and Amanda Triossi (Rizzoli; $50). A glittering guide to the ornaments that women -- and men -- have been wearing since 3000 B.C., this book is dotted with small gems: for example, because of the improvement of French domestic candles in the 18th century, evening soirees increased, and brilliant-cut, light-reflecting diamond earrings became de rigueur.

ART ACROSS AMERICA by William H. Gerdts (Abbeville; $425). Only a handful of American artists have entered the national consciousness, even though the country has always brimmed with painters and sculptors. This huge, three- volume history compensates for the neglect by celebrating the brushwork of some 800 gifted men and women. No greater revelation has been published this year.

THE STORY OF AMERICAN TOYS by Richard O'Brien (Abbeville; $49.95). When the Pilgrims stepped ashore, they had toys in their luggage. Americans have been playing with dolls, games and miniatures ever since. This spirited volume gathers every possible amusement for children from 19th century clay marbles to Buck Rogers ray guns to effigies of Barbie, Ken and the Muppets.

RUSSIAN DECORATIVE ARTS 1917-1937 by Vladimir Tolstoy (Rizzoli; $125). The age of glasnost has lent a new interest to book covers, posters, porcelains and costumes designed for mass consumption in the pre-World War II Soviet Union. These well-made souvenirs are about all that remain unbroken from a time that is rapidly being swept into the dustbin of history.

VENETIAN PALACES by Alvise Zorzi (Rizzoli; $95). The watery avenues and grand facades of Venice are worth the price of admission; inside, things grow more ostentatious with every step. By the end, the reader is either totally surfeited with marble and mosaics or ready to call a travel agent.