- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
The Madman's Guide to Stamp Collecting
About this book
A fascinating, one-of-a-kind journey through the world of stamps and collecting by maverick historian and writer Robert Irwin
Why do we collect? Is it to rescue objects from oblivion? Is it a kind of desire - or even a kind of madness? In this mosaic of fiction, philosophy, sociology, biography and autobiography, virtuoso thinker Robert Irwin takes us on a wayward journey through the art of collecting, and his own intellectual passions.
Drawing on the works of writers including Susan Sontag, Walter Benjamin, Iris Murdoch and Georges Perec, as well as a host of lesser-known geniuses, flaneurs, obsessives and eccentrics, Irwin explores everything from mysticism to nostalgia, classical antiquity to surrealism, dreams to death. We join Thomas De Quincey on a night mail coach, encounter the man who set out to acquire every stamp ever issued and enter the badlands of fakes and forgeries, all in the company of a uniquely brilliant mind.
This is a book of wonders; of labyrinthine digressions, good humour and a delight in small things. It is a meditation on the stuff of life.
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Information
Subtopic
Literary BiographiesIndex
Social SciencesTable of contents
- Praise
- Title Page
- Contents
- The Madman’s Guide to Stamp Collecting
- Acknowledgements
- Notes
- Available and Coming Soon from Pushkin Press
- About the Author
- Copyright
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Yes, you can access The Madman's Guide to Stamp Collecting by Robert Irwin in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Social Sciences & Literary Biographies. We have over 1.5 million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.