{"product_id":"the-madmans-guide-to-stamp-collecting-by-robert-irwin-9781805337744","title":"The Madman's Guide to Stamp Collecting","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\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\n\n\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, flâneurs, 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\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Madman's Guide to Stamp Collecting\u003c\/em\u003e 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\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47341318275308,"sku":"9781805337744","price":39.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/21391743482830.jpg?v=1772189662","url":"https:\/\/bookhero.co.nz\/products\/the-madmans-guide-to-stamp-collecting-by-robert-irwin-9781805337744","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}