Collecting

Hello there!

I'm new to LibraryThing (in fact, I ignored the mere existence of it until three days ago).
I've read with enthusiasm and great pleasure a large part of the discussions in this group. I'm afraid I won't be able to take an active part in them often, because my English isn't good enough (I'm French).

Anyway, I wanted to ask a question and I hope you don't mind.

I was reading the Illustrated History of Interior Decoration by Mario Praz the other day.
In his foreword, called Philosophy of Furniture (the title is obviously inspired by Poe), Praz, in a traditional way, links the collecting activity with melancholy.
I thought it could as well be linked with decadence.
Some of the most important figures of late 19th c fiction (melancholy figures - I don't deny it) are indeed great collectors and aesthetes, looking for the rare piece.
I will only mention here the famous and obvious : Des Esseintes, Fréneuse and Ethal (in Monsieur de Phocas), Dorian Gray, of course...(but also, for instance, the unnamed narrator in A Tress of Hair, the wonderful short story by Maupassant - quite a melancholy and even a somewhat decadent text...)

Well, here is my question : are some of you collecting things, apart from books of course?

Indeed, yes. Currently, I am collecting dust.

Welcome, by the way. Please don't worry about any language barrier: this group is lousy with polyglots.

Thank you for your answer, Makifat, and for the welcoming words.

Well, isn't dust collecting compulsory when you collect books (a natural corollary of book collecting)?

Anyway, dust is lovely (at least, Natalie Clifford Barney thinks so) :
"C'est joli, la poussière, c'est la poudre de riz des choses."

And, as Quentin Crisp consolingly observed, if you leave it be, dust doesn't get any worse after four years.

#5

I tested that, and, it is TRUE.

#1

Hello, Myriades, to answer your question, in my case, not really. Although, whoever comes to clean up after I go to that great library in the sky, may have a different opinion. I seem to have accumulated a lot of loosely connected "stuff". But in the main everything is dwarfed by books.

In the group, so far we heard that BarkingMatt collects art prints, and marietherese mentioned her netsuke.

And what about yourself?

#5 #6
Indeed it is.

#6

Hello LolaWalser,
Thank you very much for answering. I'd love to know what you call "loosely connected stuff"...

I thought there would be more collectors in this group...I'm a bit surprised, but, of course, I should have guessed that booklovers are often exclusive in their affections.

Collecting netsuke sounds great - they are exquisite objects.
By the way, I also own some art prints.

I am indeed a collector myself. I collect a lot of different things, but I'll spare you the list.

I have two main collections.
The first is a collection of antique and vintage photographs from the 19th and the 20th century (I have a few ambrotypes and daguerreotypes, many cartes-de-visite and cabinet cards, many snapshots and polaroids, several studio and press photos...the total amounts
to 800 photos, roughly).
The second is a collection of dolls (modern and vintage, mostly Japanese and American dolls, but also artist dolls; I'm not rich and can't afford antique dolls).

#7 Collecting netsuke sounds great - they are exquisite objects.

I'm reading The Hare with Amber Eyes. There's a collection of netsuke in it. Does that count? ;-)

Myriades, your collection of antique photographs sounds divine. You might want to check out the Black and White threads in this group, or the silver halide thread. I for one would love to see some pictures of your collection.

I collect textiles. I have some rare and very old embroideries from Yu nan and Gui Zho provinces

(http://cgi.ebay.com.sg/ANTIQUE-CHINESE-HMONG-QUILT-EMBROIDERY-ART-BABY-CARRIER-/180625761459 this kind of thing, but mine are much nicer....)

and weaving, from northern Thailand. When I get back from my trip, I'll try to post some pictures.

Myriades and 'Murr, I would love to see both of your collections. They sound divine.

Myriades, I have one--yes--one daguerreotype. It was one of the few decent ones (still in the original leather case) that I could afford.

#9 and #10
tomcatMurr and theaelizabeth, thank you for answering.

I'm looking forwards to seing images of your collection, tomcatMurr.
I've read the two threads you talk about. They are very interesting indeed. So many beautiful things to see here!

I have posted random photographs from my collection in my "Member gallery" : some stereoviews, some cdvs, somes cabs, and several snapshots.
You can take a look at them if you are interested. I didn't have time to post any information about the images (that is, when I have any information...).
Daguerreotypes and ambros are very difficult to photograph or to scan, that's why I haven't put images of mine. Anyway, I only have a few of these.

Nouveau and deco bookends. Figures of gods/devils: Hindu, Buddhist, Polynesian, antique (very limited).

I collect a lot of things. Comic books, movies, coins, CPUs I'm sure there are more.

I collect art and ceramics, in particular folk art of NC, NC ceramics fine art prints. A few african pieces have made their way into the collection as well as a few russian via France pieces.

Not exactly netsuke. ;-)
http://www.librarything.com/pic/243804

Notice Albert the alligator lurking.
http://www.librarything.com/pic/243861

To provide a little admonitory or encouraging slap, no doubt.

Pogo and Churchy are around the corner, observing.

1
Having perused your gallery at length, I can only stand in awe of such a remarkable collection of photographs! Absolutely wonderful! You ought to blog them if you don't already.

Thank you all for your answers. There seem to be collectors there after all!

#19
Makifat, thank you for the kind words about my gallery.
I had a Flickr account where I used to archive the photos (with date, place of provenance, model and photographer names, etc), but I had to destroy it for several reasons. I don't think I want to start it all over again for the time being.
The pictures are just stored in no particular order in cardboard boxes.

I don't belong to your group but I do read it everyday. You all have such interesting posts. I saw your black and white photos and had to comment on how wonderful your collection is.
I love old b&w pictures and have quite a number of them as well.

The Black and White thread is one of my favorites. The illustrations are great.

#21

You're welcome, thebeadden!

#20

Myriades, truly wonderful collection. Photos always seem so pregnant with stories.

Myriades, I thought you were leading up to the question of why we collect, which is probably much more interesting than what we collect. At least I find it so, since I notice my compulsive behaviour has a repetitive pattern almost regardless of the object I am at that moment obsessed with. In fact, on the day that you created this thread, I was walking around in the garden furniture section of a department store, whose dominant market is generally the bourgeois-aspirant, and thinking back to a line in Adorno's In Search of Wagner where he lambasts what he describes as Wagner's dilettantism: "it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that till the end of his days the entire pleasure of reading was inseparable from the thought of rows of classics bound in gold" - and one could say this extends to the collector who starts out lacking connoisseurship, i.e. it is as much a question of status anxiety as it is of the sensual or other pleasures. But that's a long discussion in itself. To answer your question directly, what I spend the most money on - especially money I haven't earned - is CDs; but I feel I am 'collecting' all the time, even when I am not actually acquiring something.

Your photography collection is wonderful, by the way. I happen to love browsing old photographs myself.

Myriades, I am fascinated by the dance photographs in your collection. They are exceptional and quite fascinating and I would love to know more about them.

I have a few netsuke, a few kokeshi and other Japanese dolls, a collection of "art" boxes (some made by artist friends) and a small collection of musical instruments from around the world but I can't say I'm much of a collector (unless you count wine, in which case I have a major multi-hundred item collection but it's not permanent and each bottle will eventually be consumed-at least I hope I live long enough to consume them all!). Unlike some of the folks here, I don't even really collect books (although I own a lot of them). For me the content is more important than the edition (I'll be the first to admit that I like words more than pictures and covers and bindings don't matter in the least to me-a cheap paperback is just as good as a Folio Society edition if they hold the same content within) and I am thrilled with my Kindle because academic friends can now send me PDFs that I can convert into digital files and read at my leisure without having to worry about where I'm going to store their latest magnum opus! (I find I actually read more academic work now that I have the Kindle than I did before but I think that may be due to my aging eyes and the ease of changing fonts on an ereader.)

It is lovely to see someone become a steward for these older, fragile artifacts. If you don't already have a blog or webpage, to showcase your photos, you might want to consider it. I'm certain many people would find them really interesting and maybe even helpful to their research as well as beautiful to look upon. You might want to look into something like Squidoo or Pinterest, which allow lots of images as well as explanatory content.

Myriades, I've just had time to look at all of the photos you've posted. They're wonderful. Any information about their provenance that you would be willing to share would be appreciated.

#23
Existanai, thank you for your answer and for pointing to the essential question - the reason why one ever begins collecting things.
What I personally find fascinating is that the "pattern" you mention only appears progressively in the process of collecting itself. In fact, collecting seems to answer to questions that hadn't been clearly expressed in the beginning and remain a bit mysterious, even when you begin to get a glimpse of what you are really looking for.

Of course, the quest for status or some sort of recognition is certainly a part of it (and, in some cases, an important one), but I still think that the particular choice of some kind of objects among many others may bear some other meaning.
The pleasure of gathering things on formal, or analogic criteria also seems a very specific kind of pleasure, but I still can't explain clearly why.

#24
marietherese, thank you for your answer too. I also collect dolls, but mostly vintage and modern ones (I have several Japanese fashion dolls - vintage Licca and such). I have a few kokeshi which were given to me by friends, but they are contemporary ones. I like antique kokeshi and traditional Japanese dolls.
I understand what you feel about the content of a book being more important than its material qualities - I used to feel the same but I'm more and more attracted by images and visual arts in general as time goes by, so I can't resist a beautiful book, when I find one I can afford.
As for the dance photos, I'll try to post more here if you are interested and to add the information I might have (some of the pictures are studio photos and, as such, are stamped by the photographer, some have manuscript inscriptions at the back, but some of them don't bear any information at all).

#25
theaelizabet, thank you very much. I'll try and post some info when I have the time.

#22
LolaWalser, some of the pictures have a "narrative" quality indeed.

I tend to think about the photos according to (always changing) categories.
Among the categories are : pictures-that-tell-a-story /atmospheric pictures/arty pictures/undecipherable, strange, mysterious, absurd pictures / metaphysical pictures /kitchy pictures (among these, there are many sub-categories : stupid pictures, cute pictures, etc.)

I'm not a very coherent collector, I like them all regardless of the name of the photographer, the time frame, the provenance, the technique, the medium...