{"product_id":"9781805337768","title":"The Madman's Guide to Stamp Collecting by Robert Irwin","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA fascinating, one-of-a-kind journey through the world of stamps and collecting by maverick historian and writer Robert Irwin\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhy 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDrawing 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis 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.\u003c\/p\u003e,\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Binding: Paperback,\u003cbr\u003ePagination: 240 pages","brand":"PUSHKIN PRESS","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48419401007331,"sku":"9781805337768","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1701\/6275\/files\/9781805337768.jpg?v=1772887948","url":"https:\/\/www.harbourbookshop.co.uk\/products\/9781805337768","provider":"The Harbour Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}