When Taschen sent me a copy of its latest book, I was overwhelmed. And so was the courier who brought it to my desk at work. Blimey, it’s big. Open the box, and you’ll discover that this is a very beautiful volume too. The Charlie Chaplin Archives is a stunning new book, which pays tribute to south London’s favourite son across 560 gorgeous pages crammed with quotes, archive imagery, classic film stills and snippets of Chaplinalia. It takes the reader step-by-step through all of Charlie Chaplin’s feature films and many of his shorter works. Along the way, you’ll find out how Chaplin made his movies, and a little bit more about Hollywood’s greatest ever rags-to-riches tale. As the foreword by editor Paul Duncan explains, Chaplin was famously secretive about the creative process, so these glimpses behind the camera are fascinating – especially when we learn how much was reworked and invented in the studio, rather than at the script stage. This is an oral history too: as much as possible, the story is told by Chaplin and his collaborators, from archive interviews and memoirs.

I wanted to do proper justice to a book that is so lavish and thorough and … majestic in scope. So I decided that the best way to review The Charlie Chaplin Archives was not with words, but with pictures.

Click on the first image to begin the slideshow …

All in all this a stunning book, and could easily be the centrepiece of any Chaplin fan’s collection of memorabilia. Reading this is a little like being let loose in the archives yourself. But it’s not cheap, at £135 a pop. Perhaps you could put it on your Christmas list, but I hope that Santa has been working out!

• The Charlie Chaplin Archives, edited by Paul Duncan, is out now, published by Taschen, RRP £135/€150. Read more here.

With thanks to Krystyna and Olive for their help.