The Madman's Guide to Stamp Collecting

Name: The Madman's Guide to Stamp Collecting
Price: 24.99 AUD
Availability: OutOfStock
ISBN: 9781805337768

Robert Irwin

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Paperback

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English

Pushkin Press
12 March 2026

Memoirs; Stamps, philately

A fascinating, one-of-a-kind journey through the world of stamps and collecting by maverick historian and writer Robert Irwin

Why 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.

Drawing 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.

This 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.

By: Robert Irwin
Imprint: Pushkin Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 198mm, Width: 129mm,
ISBN: 9781805337768
ISBN 10: 1805337769
Pages: 240
Publication Date: 12 March 2026
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Robert Irwin (1946-2024) was a novelist, publisher, reviewer, Arabist and historian. He was a fellow of The Royal Society of Literature and the author of ten novels, including The Arabian Nightmare, Satan Wants Me and Tom's Version, as well as many works of non-fiction including The Arabian Nights: A Companion and Memoirs of a Dervish.