Noble Madness, A: The Dark Side of Collecting from Antiquity to Now by James Delbourgo; 2025. Hardcover.
$7.00
In stock
Product Details
Publisher: W. W. Norton
Binding: Hardcover
Year Published: 2025
Number of Pages: 320
Recent Release: Yes
Collectors are often praised for their taste in art or contributions to science, but a dangerous obsession sometimes drives their passion: Roman emperors who lusted after statues; Chinese scholars obsessed with rocks and flowers; fin de siècle dandies surrounded by bibelots. History is full of stories about those who love things more than people, presenting a danger either to themselves or others.
In this sweeping history from antiquity to today, James Delbourgo tells the extraordinary story of the mad collector as a cultural figure, from the tyrant and idolater to the sexually repressed "psycho" of the Freudian imagination and the modern-day hoarder. He concludes that because passion rather than profit drives them, obsessive collectors also have been cultural heroes, seen as true to themselves. Some may be mad, but theirs is a noble madness.
In this sweeping history from antiquity to today, James Delbourgo tells the extraordinary story of the mad collector as a cultural figure, from the tyrant and idolater to the sexually repressed "psycho" of the Freudian imagination and the modern-day hoarder. He concludes that because passion rather than profit drives them, obsessive collectors also have been cultural heroes, seen as true to themselves. Some may be mad, but theirs is a noble madness.
Save this product for later
Noble Madness, A: The Dark Side of Collecting from Antiquity to Now by James Delbourgo; 2025. Hardcover.
