{"product_id":"9781805337744","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\u003eBinding: Hardback","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56307155665269,"sku":"9781805337744","price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/products\/9781805337744","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}