"Why do we collect? Where does the urge to collect come from? This book explores the phenomenon of collecting in various contexts. Collecting is an illustration of a strong human-thing entanglement. It can be caused by psychological incentives that are deeply rooted in human doubts and anxieties. It is also related to building a pleasant, unthreatening, and even paradisical, environment to compensate for the uncertainties of everyday life. The chapters in this book range from psychological perspectives in the Habsburg empire to Rococo collecting in France, from a fanatic English book collector to a 16th/17th century encyclopaedic Dutch collector. And finally the fascinating story of Baron Edmond de Rothschild's boxes."-- Provided by publisher.
Foreword: The Urge to Collect / Holly O'Farrell, Pieter ter Keurs -- The Urge to Collect: An Introduction / Pieter ter Keurs -- What Drives the Collector? The Case of Rococo Collecting / Caroline van Eck -- From Hegel to Freud. Imperial Museums and the Rise of Psychology in the History of Culture, between Triumphalism and Criticism / Pascal Griener -- Tulips, Rabies and Books / Cecilia Hurley -- How to Form a Wunderkammer in 1600. The Encyclopedic Collection of Bernardus Paludanus (1550-1633) / Marika Keblusek -- Storing and staging: Baron Edmond's boxes / Juliet Carey.