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

Blom, Philipp

Softcover

ISBN 10: 158567561X ISBN 13: 9781585675616

Publisher: MJF Books,US, 2004

Synopsis

From amassing sacred relics to collecting celebrity memorabilia, the impulse to hoard has gripped humankind throughout the centuries. But what is it that drives people to possess objects that have no conceivable use? To Have and To Hold is a captivating tour of collectors and their treasures from medieval times to the present, from a cabinet containing unicorn horns and a Tsar's collection of teeth to the macabre art of embalmer Dr. Frederick Ruysch, the fabled castle of William Randolph Hearst, and the truly preoccupied men who stockpile food wrappers and plastic cups. An engrossing story of the collector as bridegroom, deliriously, obsessively happy, wed to his possessions, till death do us part.

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:

A history of the human drive to collect things considers how various objects carry meanings of significance to their collectors, tracing popular items of pursuit during the Renaissance and other eras while discussing the themes underlying collecting behaviors. Reprint.

About this edition

• Publisher: MJF Books,US
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 158567561X
• ISBN 13: 9781585675616
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 273