ARMCHAIR TRAVELERS

NEW YORK – Italy, China, Paris and Bhutan are exotic places half a world away – or as close as your living room, thanks to four recent coffee-table books whose words and images allow readers to savor faraway places without even having to put on their shoes and venture outdoors.

Such sedentary sojourners should get a boot out of “Italy: The Best Travel Writing From The New York Times” (Abrams, $50).

An introduction by Umberto Eco kicks off this dense and glossy 416-page volume whose 46 stories and 450-plus color photographs celebrate the diversity of cuisine, culture, geography, history and people found in Italy’s 20 regions.

Articles by Shirley Hazzard, Jan Morris, Francine Prose, Muriel Spark, Barry Unsworth and others are supplemented by sidebars and short essays that focus on local cuisine, figures, history, points of interest and traditions.

Among the many delectable images are those of the Ponte Vecchio in Florence and of the pope’s home in the Vatican, the Coliseum in Rome and Calabria’s rocky coast, Bologna’s towers and the leaning tower of Pisa, and pizza and pasta in various shapes and forms.

The emphasis is on images – hundreds of dazzling color ones – in “Treasures of China: An Armchair Journey to Over 340 Legendary Landmarks” (Reader’s Digest, $30).

Treasures natural and manmade – mountains, forests and waterfalls, statues, pagodas and palaces, as well as streets, skylines and bridges of modern cities – are unearthed in this 300-page revised edition of a 1989 book that now features updated text and 400 new photographs.

The book is divided into five geographical regions, and five individual sections about the Great Wall, the Silk Road, the Yangtze River, the Yellow River and Taiwan.

Photos offer a view of the Songhua River, ablaze in pinks and purples cast by the glow of the setting sun; and of the Sugong Tower in Turfan, a Buddhist monument 131 feet high erected in 1778 of yellow bricks arranged in 15 patterns.

A two-page spread shows some of the 8,000-plus life-size terra cotta soldiers, no two alike, made around 2,000 years ago for the tomb of Emperor Qin and not discovered until 1974.

One photo shows snow-topped Yu (Jade) Mountain, the highest on Taiwan, rising to 13,000 feet, while in another, modern glass-and-steel skyscrapers soar in a dense cluster surrounding Hong Kong’s harbor.

Frankly speaking, Paris simply sparkles in “Paris: City of Light and Fascination” (Thunder Bay Press, $29.98) by Guy-Pierre Bennet.

In the book’s 300 pages are 500 photos and paintings, most in color, that treat readers to a history of Paris before taking them on a tour of its architecture, food, fashion, and some of the places conventional tours might avoid.

Photos taken backstage at the Opera Garnier show Bolshoi ballerinas on their toes as they prepare for a performance. In another image, a concierge in bold red jacket waits for diners to arrive at the entrance of Maxim’s. And you can “hear” the silence in the photo of the cavernous reading room of the Bibliotheque Nationale, whose shelves are home to 12 million books.

One of the world’s most familiar sights, the Eiffel Tower, dominates the Paris skyline and gets its share of exposure in this book’s pages. The sun sets behind the tower in one view, a rainbow drapes it in another, and Bastille Day fireworks illuminate it in yet another image. There’s a craned-neck’s view from the base, and a two-page aerial shot of Paris at night, with the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe and Dome des Invalides appearing as glowing points of a triangle.

“Bhutan: A Visual Odyssey Across the Last Himalayan Kingdom” (Friendly Planet, $100) is a big book about a small nation.

This hefty five-pound tome is 12 inches wide and 15 inches high. Its 350 vivid color photos introduce readers to the people and places, culture and customs of this small Himalayan kingdom south of Tibet that has long been isolated by mountains and dense forests.

Michael Hawley’s photos are the result of a series of expeditions to Bhutan conducted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology beginning in the fall of 2002. This edition, as big as it is, is tiny compared to the original – which is 5-by-7-feet when open and weighs almost 150 pounds, making it the “largest book ever published,” writes Hawley in the prologue. An illustrated essay in the smaller book explains how and why the big volume was produced.

The mini “Bhutan” has 216 pages and contains 300 photos, including all those from the original.

One two-page spread offers a wide view of Bhutan’s longest suspension bridge – a footbridge crossing the waters of the Pho Chu and lined with colorful prayer flags – while another is a close-up of a young lama carrying a basket of red rice in preparation for an annual festival.

In other views, a pair of white-skirted drummers dance down the street to announce the arrival of someone or something important; a school yard displays students’ handmade signs in English advising against drug use and teenage pregnancy; and a group of yaks appear around the bend along a mountain trail.

The book is available only from www.amazon.com/bhutan. According to Friendly Planet, about $70 of the purchase price will be donated to support school programs in Bhutan.