Le Collectionneur: Anatomie D Une Passion. Werner Muensterberger. Payot, 1996

Paperback in very good condition.

American psychoanalyst Werner Muensterberger explores the motivations of collectors during a remarkable journey through time, from Roman patricians passionate about Greek works to American billionaires, by way of relic hunters in the Middle Ages and the Dutch bourgeoisie of the Golden Age. He traverses a gallery of historical portraits dominated by the figures of Balzac, obsessed with bric-a-brac, and his contemporary Thomas Phillipps, who wanted to acquire a copy of every book published in the entire world. This anatomy of a passion that can become as devastating as gambling takes place in a cabinet of curiosities where, according to their owners, the objects are like witnesses.