To accompany their beguiling new V&A exhibition of the same name, Fragile Beauty offers a collection of just some of the captivating images within the photographic archives of Elton John and David Furnish.

It’s an opulent, beautifully-presented book, opening with a preface from the curatorial team and an insightful interview with Talk Art podcast hosts Russell Tovey and Robert Diament about the influences and individuals encompassed within the pages. The supplementary texts illustrate the fascinating contexts and histories to the visual joys of the images, which cover fashion, art, and civil rights of the last century and numerous other fields.

Fragile Beauty lives up to its title. Featuring the works of artists including Andy Warhol, Cindy Sherman, and Robert Mapplethorpe, and portraits that depict Martin Luther King Jr, James Dean, Aretha Franklin and Mae West, the book comprises a sparkling cast that spans popular culture, politics, and the everyday. A particularly enchanting section devoted to the theme of ‘desire’ holds a mirror up to the collectors and those enthralled by the figures depicted, and the intimate, glorious glimpses of life they permit. The creativity and artistic eyes of John and Furnish make for a strikingly all-encompassing treasure trove of images, and a visual journey through the names and moments that have shaped us.