CBR17 Bingo: N – Re: the title.
The obsessive collector in history has worn many faces – a magician, a scientist, a connoisseur, a madman – but whether they are a force for good or evil in their societies is a more complicated question.
When I think of collectors I usually think of the modern kind who collects some specific category of kitsch because they like them, be it stuffed animals or porcelain figurines or Stephen King novels. As someone who dislikes clutter and has moved around a lot, I haven’t amassed much beyond a closetful of books (and I promise I’ve read most of them too!). But Delbourgo’s definition of a collection, as well as the reasons that may drive the act of collecting, are much wider than that.
This was an interesting read that looks at people and their collections starting in the time of the Roman Empire to the modern-day. Delbourgo covers the shifting attitudes towards and around the act of collecting throughout the ages and around the world – I was especially interested to learn about how collecting in Ming period China was considered a mark of sophistication. I also appreciated how he discussed the role of collectors in the explosion of zoology and botany during the Age of Enlightenment, and later in the keen interest European nations took in the acquisition of colonies, as I’d never considered those topics from this angle.
I did feel though that the writing was rather dry, especially as the book went on and we got into more of the suggested psychological theories behind why humans collect things. One of the reasons I picked up this book is because I wanted to learn more about the human side of obsessive collecting, but between that theorizing and the in-depth discussions of fictional collectors, I felt that the stories of the historical collectors got short shrift. I would have enjoyed if we got into more depth especially on the final chapters which dealt with modern-day hoarding and with the shift in recent times to the mindset that collections should serve as financial investments as opposed to being for mere enjoyment.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.