To Have and to Hold: An Intimate History of Collectors and Collecting - Hardcover

Blom, Philipp

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0713994762 ISBN 13: 9780713994766

Publisher: Allen Lane, 2002

Synopsis

Philipp Blom's TO HAVE AND TO HOLD aims to do for collecting what Charles Sprawson's THE HAUNTS OF THE BLACK MASSEUR did for swimming and Alberto Manguel's A HISTORY OF READING did for books. It is a completely engrossing, idiosyncratic, ruminative, meandering, delightful, episodic exploration of the collecting mind from mediaeval times to the present - full of eccentrics, visionaries, heroes and nutcases. It is (as such a book must be) itself something of a work of art.

About this title

Review:

Blom makes for a macabre, if knowledgeable guide, as he takes us from the Renaissance cabinets of curiosities...up to present day. -- The Independent Magazine

Blom's text delights in extremists and obsessives, men who would cheat, steal, kill or marry to feed or finance their habit. -- The Guardian

He makes you rethink yourself in a civilised style, if not comfortably unsettle your view of the world. -- Spectator

I read Blom's largely anecdotal survey with the morbid fascination that a hypochrondriac brings to a medical handbook. -- The Guardian

‘A beautifully written, fascinating, amusing, astonishing account, which illuminates the strangeness of the human mind and the wonder of the world’ -- A. C. Grayling, Financial Times

‘A marvellous book ... crammed nearly to bursting with arcane facts and descriptions of bizarre, exquisite objects’ -- Jerome Boyd Maunsell, Evening Standard

‘Astonishing ... a positive rogues’ gallery ... relishing the dramas, oddities and moments of high comedy’ -- Jenny Uglow, The Times Literary Supplement

‘Brilliant in the most exact sense, it gives off constant rays of illumination’ -- Bevis Hillier, Literary Review

‘Glorious ... sparkling, discursive and eclectic’ -- Sue Gaisford, Independent on Sunday

Synopsis:

Collecting is one of the most common pastimes, and can often become a passion bordering on the obsessive. Our familiarity with the pursuit, however, obscures the questions at its heart: why do people amass things that have no use? What drives them to spend time and money getting hold of a single stamp, an unusual beermat, or a rare doll, only to put it in a folder or on a shelf? Why do we feel the need to possess these items, and why is it not enough to know that they exist in a museum, or somewhere else? In this book, Philip Blom delves into the history of the collecting passion and explores it through a series of interlinked portraits, stories and discoveries, each characteristic of a period. What emerges is the story of a human quest more intimately linked with our primal needs than many would have thought possible. Investigating the history of collecting from the Renaissance to our day, Blom shows a multiplicity of worlds: the scientific cabinets of the 15th century and an Italian scholar employed as dragon slayer; the "Ark" of the Tradescants and a friend's betrayal; Emperor Rudolf II's Prague collection as "practised alchemy"; the macabre art of Dr.

About this edition

• Publisher: Allen Lane
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0713994762
• ISBN 13: 9780713994766
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288