A Noble Madness

'A magisterial rethinking of why we collect. I loved this book' Edmund de Waal 'Magnificent . . . so compulsive and entertaining' Stephen Fry 'Give it to the collector in your life, and watch sparks fly!' Cathy Gere 'A delight to read and ponder' Jackson Lears 'A tour de force of scholarship and storytelling' Daniel Weiss A captivating history of obsessive collectors: from ancient looters and idolaters to fin de siècle decadents, Freudian psychos, and hoarders. Collectors are often praised for their taste in art or contributions to science, but there can be a darker side: their passion is sometimes driven by dangerous obsession. 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. His conclusion is surprising: Because they are driven by passion rather than profit, obsessive collectors also have been cultural heroes, seen as authentic and true to themselves. Some may be mad, but theirs is a noble madness.

James Delbourgo is recognized as the leading expert on the life and career of Sir Hans Sloane and a leading academic authority on the history of science and imperialism in the early modern world. Trained in the histories of science and empire at the University of Cambridge and Columbia University, and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, he is a tenured Associate Professor of History at Rutgers University, having previously taught at McGill University, Montreal, where he directed the program in History and Philosophy of Science. His first book, A Most Amazing Scene of Wonders: Electricity and Enlightenment in Early America (Harvard University Press, 2006), was awarded Harvard's Thomas J. Wilson Prize for the best first book in any field, and was runner-up for the Canadian Historical Association's Wallace K. Ferguson Prize. His Collecting the World: Hans Sloane and the Origins of the British Museum (2017), won the Leo Gershoy Award (AHA), Louis Gottschalk and Annibel Jenkins Prizes (ASECS), and the Hughes Prize (BSHS).

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