For 40 years, Ralph Lauren has made fashion his business. But as the hefty new coffee-table book “Ralph Lauren” by Ralph Lauren (Rizzoli, $135) shows, it was his deft creation of ideal images — not just neckties or polo shirts — that made his brand so wildly successful.

Rizzoli has managed to squeeze between the hardback covers of this book a totally absorbing world. A quick sketch of Mr. Lauren’s life opens the 480-page book, and the photographs sweep from his Bronx childhood, to the Amagansett home he shares with his wife, Ricky, and their three children, to glamorous moments of his early design world success. These images of real-life activities set the tone for the following chapters, which incorporate fashion collections and advertisements. The “Movies” chapter is not about films, but rather about the company’s approach to advertisements. “We didn’t do one picture or run one page in a magazine; we presented twenty, and enveloped you in the scenes of a movie,” Mr. Lauren writes. “And all of this against the backdrop of the American landscapes that I loved and the adventures I dreamed of in Africa or in the English countryside.”

There is a near constant emphasis on the outdoors, and even the indoor shots seem intended only as momentary shelter after a long day outside. Every fifth photograph seems to include a shot of wild horses, vintage cars, or a dog. The fashion is there, but it is the world around the fashion that has such appeal. And that, of course, is the genius of Ralph Lauren.

As a collection of photography, this book highlights the richly varied approaches to translating fashion onto the page. As a historical look at a brand that has influenced American fashion, it captures — and it celebrates — the evolution of a visionary.