Daily Staff Writer

Save the how-to books for later. This is the time to give printed pleasures:

* An atlas is a most practical resource, dating at least to the 15th century, a likely companion to that age of exploration. ”Images of the World: The Atlas Through History” (McGraw-Hill, $69.95 hardcover), edited by John A. Wolter and Ronald E. Grim, traces the view of the world by scholars, mapmakers and adventurers through the ages.

* One of the country’s beauty areas is captured on film in ”Richard Brown’s New England” (Firefly, $40 hardcover). The photographer portrays the region not only in majestic landscapes but in the lives of ordinary New Englanders in their gardens, kitchens and farms.

* The country’s treasures, its national parks, are portrayed in ”Discover America: The Smithsonian Book of the National Parks” (Smithsonian Institution Press, $34.95 hardcover), by Charles Little, with photographs by David Muench. It’s an appreciation as well as a guide to the simple beauty of places like the Homestead National Monument near Beatrice, Neb., or the grandiosity of the Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona.

* In ”A is for Arctic: Natural Wonders of a Polar World” (Firefly, $24.95 paperback), Dr. Wayne Lynch has photographed and written about the fascinations of the Polar Arctic and its flora and fauna. Among them is the brilliant yellow arctic poppy, one of the 76 kinds of flowers which bloom in the cold.

* The North’s awesome and beautiful king of beasts is profiled in ”The World of the Polar Bear” (Firefly, $40 hardcover), by Norbert Rosing. He chronicles the behavior and habitat of the white giants called Nanook by the indigenous people of the Arctic. The photographer-writer also looks at some of the bear’s neighbors — eskimo dogs, white foxes, falcons, eagles, terns and snow geese.

* ”Wild Bird Photography: National Audubon Society Guide” (Firefly, $19.95 paperback), by Tim Fitzharris, will help you capture these elusive subjects on film. The author gives tips on equipment and on good locations to find the birds.