Main entry:

Muensterberger, Werner.

Title & Author:

Collecting : an unruly passion : psychological perspectives / by Werner Muensterberger.

Publication:

Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, ©1994.

Description:

xi, 295 pages, 12 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 25 cm

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 273-288) and index.
Passion, or the wellsprings of collecting -- First possessions -- Of toys and treasures -- Skulls and bones -- The headhunter's bequest -- "One Copy of Every Book!" -- Two collectors: Balzac and his Cousin Pons -- Ventures of passion: the vicissitudes of Martin G. -- Renaissance and reconnaissance -- The age of curiosity -- In praise of plenty: collecting during Holland's golden age -- Ways and means -- The promise of pleasure.

Summary:

"From rare books, valuable sculpture and paintings, the relics of saints, and porcelain and other objets d'art, through stamps, textiles, military ribbons, and shells, to baseball cards, teddy bears, and cookie jars, an amazing variety of objects have engaged and even obsessed collectors through the ages. In this captivating book the psychoanalyst Werner Muensterberger provides the first psychological examination of the emotional sources of the neverending longing for yet another collectible. Muensterberger's roster of driven acquisition-hunters includes the dedicated, the serious, and the infatuated, whose chronic restlessness can be curbed--and then merely temporarily--only by purchasing, discovering, receiving, or even stealing a new "find." In an easy, conversational style, the author discusses the eccentricities of heads of state, literary figures, artists, and psychoanalytic patients, all possessed by a need for magic relief from despair and helplessness--and for the self-healing implied in the phrase "I can't live without it!" Always empathetic, the sketches here are diverse indeed: Walter Benjamin, Mario Praz, Catherine the Great, Petrarch, Brunelleschi, and Jean de Berry, among others. The central part of the work explores in detail the personal circumstances and life history of three individuals: a contemporary collector, Martin G; the celebrated British book and manuscript collector Sir Thomas Phillipps, who wanted one copy of every book in the world; and the great French novelist Honore de Balzac, a compulsive collector of bric-a-brac who expressed his empathy for the acquisitive passions of his collector protagonist in Cousin Pons."--Jacket

Resources:
Publisher description

ISBN:

0691033617 (acid-free paper)
9780691033617 (acid-free paper)
9780691633442
0691633444

Subject:

Phillipps, Thomas, Sir.
Balzac, Honoré de, 1799-1850.
Collectors and collecting Psychological aspects.
Collectors and collecting History.
Obsessive Behavior history
Obsessive Behavior psychology
Collections Aspect psychologique.
Collections Histoire.
Collectors and collecting
Psychologie
Sammeln
Kunstcollecties.
Kunstverzamelaars.
Psychologische aspecten.
Verzamelen.
Collectionneurs et collections Aspect psychologique Histoire.
Collecting

Form/genre:

Popular Work
History
Books.

Holdings:

Location: Library main 302009
Call No.: BIB 248219
Status: Available