{"product_id":"madmans-guide-to-stamp-collecting-the-1","title":"Madman's Guide to Stamp Collecting, The","description":"A fascinating, one-of-a-kind journey through the world of stamps and collecting by maverick historian and writer Robert IrwinWhy 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.","brand":"Pushkin Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57213418078543,"sku":"9781805337768","price":18.95,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0061\/0372\/8217\/files\/9781805337768_1-madmans-guide-to-stamp-collecting-the.jpg?v=1773213287","url":"https:\/\/www.suomalainen.com\/products\/madmans-guide-to-stamp-collecting-the-1","provider":"Suomalainen.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}