The little book of Legs

Many loved The Big Book of Legs but some found it just too darn big, weighing in at nearly seven pounds. True, it was packed with shapely legs spanning six decades, from the first shy emergence of the ankle in the 1910s, through the rolled stockings and rouged knees of the 1920s, to the Betty Grable ’40s, the stockinged and stilettoed ’50s, on into the sexually liberated ’60s and ’70s, but it could still put a dent in your own thighs if you sat reading for too long.

Fortunately here at TASCHEN we listen to your groans of agony as well as your moans of ecstasy; thus, the light and portable Little Book of Legs, packing over 100 of the choicest photos from the original volume, as well as 38 new photos, into a compact (and frankly adorable) package. From Betty Grable to Bettie Page, the greatest legs of the 20th Century can be found within, shot by Irving Klaw, Peter Gowland, Bunny Yeager, and the incomparable Elmer Batters, father of leg art. There are silk and nylon stockings, high heels in abundance, curvy calves, taut thighs, playful toes and towering arches—with no bothersome text to get in the way. Could leg love get any sweeter?