Collection (practice)

“ It is pleasant, in looking over a geological collection, to think that every stone we see has given a pleasure. A collector of Caxtons, a collector of large printed or illustrated editions, a collector of first editions of famous books, a collector of those editions that are so much prized because an author has made in them some blunder which he afterwards corrected ”

“ Reasons for compiling a history of one's collection—The part played by photographs—Armour suggested as an example—Material for grangerizing
In this concluding chapter we have a suggestion to make to the collector of ample leisure moments; briefly, it is that he should draw up a history of his treasures. Such a work has many valuable advantages; first, it helps to co-ordinate the pieces which our collection contains; second, it provides work of a fascinating nature; third, it leads us to hunt through books and collections and so increases our knowledge ”

“ A candle in your open window will attract some valuable additions to your collection and also some you will sleep better without. Some collectors care nothing for a specimen unless it is rare. A better way is to regard them all as rare until you secure a specimen for your box, and of equal value towards building up a complete collection. ”

“ Yes—the collection, the Museum with which he wishes to endow it, and of which he thinks more, as you know, than of anything in the world. It's the work of his life and the motive of everything he does. ”

“ The collection "owes its existence to a well-known distinguished collector, who, true to the motto of the family, for half a century lost no opportunity of selecting under the most favorable circumstances the choicest copies of the several works as they appeared at the dispersion of the libraries formed by Renouard, Sir Mark Sykes, Heber," and many others. ”

“ Such a collection is ten times more interesting than the ordinary boy's collection of stamps, or crests, or autographs, which any ass can accomplish by sitting at home and bothering other people to give. ”

“ There is now to be a deep and solemn consultation, as when two ambassadors are going over a heavy protocol from a third. It happened to me to see [32] one of these myrmidons returning from a bootless errand of inspection to a reputed collection; he was hot and indignant "A collection," he sputtered forth—"that a collection!—mere rubbish, sir—irredeemable trash. What do you think, sir?—a set of the common quarto edition of the Delphini classics, copies of Newton's works and Bacon's works, Gibbon's Decline and Fall, and so forth—nothing better, I declare to you: and to call that a collection!" ”

“ A nucleus is soon formed, and, that accomplished, the collector is in the toils of his hobby, and unless he is an utter failure, one of those hopeless and helpless folk who can never learn to discriminate between the true and the false, he speedily acquires a collection which has not only provided him with a delightful recreation but is a source of considerable pride. ”

“ The collector, as a rule, sets out in the beginning with little knowledge and with no very definite notion of what he intends to collect. If he is to profit by his efforts or is to end by having an interesting group of possessions, he must before long define for himself the idea of a collection and the conception which his own is to express. He may decide to obtain at least one representative example of the work of every important artist ”

“ They come to feel at last that the books of a great collection are a part, not merely of their own property, though they are only the agents for their distribution, but that they are, as it were, outlying portions of their own organization. ”

“ If, therefore, the collection fails to meet the full requirements of the anthropologist, it must be remembered that the obstacles in the way of realizing his ideal of a perfect collection are insurmountable. ”

“ Into this class fall paintings and drawings of all sorts, gems, sword-guards, lacquer, and ivories, and a thousand other objects of art. In the second, where duplicates have been produced in large numbers, the collector has a new ideal—to complete a collection that contains examples of every variety of the subject, be they artistic:—coins, etchings, or engravings of any sort; natural objects:—butterflies, or crystals, or things which belong neither to nature nor art:—postage-stamps, the majority of book-plates, and other trifles so numerous that even a bare list might extend to pages. ”

“ There is a set of collectors, alas! whose inclinations are not virtuous. The most famous of them, a Frenchman, observed that his own collection of bad books was unique. That of an English rival, he admitted, was respectable,—“mais milord se livre à des autres préoccupations!” He thought a collector’s whole heart should be with his treasures. ”

“ I should advise the young collector who wishes to make sure of success not to be too catholic in his tastes at first, but to confine his attention to a single period and a single school. I should also advise him to make from time to time a careful catalogue of what he buys, and to preserve it even after he has weeded out certain items. He will then be able to make a clear comparative estimate of the importance and value of his collection, and by studying one species at a time, to become thoroughly conversant with what it can teach him. ”

“ All collectors of out of the way books know the pleasure of the exercise of serendipity, but they enjoy it in different ways. One man will go home hugging a volume of sermons, another with a bulky collection of catalogues, which would have distended the pockets even of the wide great-coat made for the purpose, that Charles Nodier used to wear when he went a book-hunting. ”

“ Isolated objects are of little value; a collector may accumulate a number of amusing and elegant specimens, but it is only by combination, concentration, and comparison, that an entertaining collection can be converted into an instructive museum, and Archaeology erected into a science. ”

“ The care and installation of a print collection is a subject by itself, requiring an expert knowledge of both museum and library methods. An ordinary print collection contains too many "specimens" to exhibit all of them at once, so that the problems of storage and cataloguing become of greater importance than the problems of exhibition. ”

“ Personally, we do not think that a history should be limited to an account of the pieces figuring in our collection, but that a welcome should be extended to brief descriptions, both written and pictorial, of specimens which we hope to obtain as well as interesting specimens which we can never hope to321 obtain owing to their unique condition. The wider history will prove more complete and, therefore, more valuable; it will also serve as an indicator of the things which we do not yet possess but which are procurable by the average collector. ”

“ The book-collectors are of a higher order,—not that their pursuit necessarily implies knowledge; it is the love of possessing rarities, or the pleasure of pursuit, which in most cases actuates them;—one person who had spent many years in collecting large paper copies, having obtained nearly all which had ever been thus printed, sold the whole collection for the sake of beginning to collect them again. ”

“ Collectors and collections—Various kinds—Meaning of the word curieux—Various types of collectors: the artist, the scholar, the eclectic and the specialist—A large class of collectors as defined by La Bruyère—The ultra-modern collector—The art and curio market—The three stages of the collector’s career—The collector’s touch—The elasticity of prices and an opinion of C. T. Yerkes—Gersaint’s advice and Schlegel’s opinion—A Latin saying re-edited by Edmond Bonnaffé.
“La collection c’est l’homme,” a well-known French lover of art and first-rate connoisseur used to say. ”

“ In this respect abundance is the cause of want, as every collector knows to his cost. If you are an expert, do not make a collection; if you know how to use your cabinets, you will not have any to show. ”

“ Jared P. Kilgallen, J.D. and R.P.
(A Second-Cousin of Professor Kilgallen)
The lure of the antique! Who is there that has not thrilled and flushed at the words?
I confess at the outset: I am a collector and you may even call me by that damning word “dealer,” too, if you choose, since, like all non-amateur collectors, I part with items of my collection from time to time; or, if you prefer to put it so, from day to day. No collection is a permanency until it is established in an endowed museum: all private collections are constantly in a state of fluctuation, or [64] flux ”

“ There is, however, a great want of a general catalogue or general index to the vast collections of the British Museum. [231] The production of such a work would cause so large an expenditure of labour that perhaps we can scarcely expect it to be produced; but I venture to think that something might be done to bring the very miscellaneous collection of catalogues into some more uniform system than it is at present. ”

“ Often the value of a collection drops so persistently in the estimate of its possessor that he begins to contemplate exchanging it for something more up to date or interesting. But let a rival collector march forth with igniting enthusiasm and proclaim a desire for the scorned objects, and that very moment does the possessor tighten his grip on them and add a decimal or two to their value. ”

“ One humble but time-honored method, which has proved useful in every popular movement, recorded in history, is that of "taking up a collection." People may laugh at it and the collections be small but we must not be deterred by ridicule nor discouraged by the apparent insignificance of the returns. ”

“ Now, it often happens that we find a collector-in-embryo—one who has a desire to start a collection, but fancies it an undertaking requiring very special qualifications—asking: “How could I hope to become a collector when I know so little about the subject I think I should be interested in? ”

“ While it is traditional to add a reminder that various unnamed people contributed to a publication, it is imperative to state here that numerous people are essential to the collection, conservation, preservation, and exhibition of museum objects. Without them no collection would survive and be made available to those who come to study, admire or just enjoy these objects. ”

“ And be it further enacted, That a collector shall be authorized to enter, at any time between the rising and setting of the sun, any building or place where any vessel, machine, implement, or utensil as aforesaid, is kept within his collection district, for the purpose of examining, measuring, or describing the same, or of inspecting the accounts of the goods, wares, and merchandise, from time to time manufactured or made. ”

“ It is a wonderful and magnificent thing that the gathering of books in this country is in the hands of leaders of her industries, the so-called business kings, and not in the hands of college professors and great scholars. The latter, generally, in forming a collection make a sad mess of it. The instinct of the collector, the heluo librorum of Cicero, is entirely different from that of the scholar. ”

“ A typical entry includes person, family, organization, or collector who formed the collection or is its focus; collection title; physical description in linear feet or number of items; repository; location of original manuscripts if the collection consists of copies; description of scope and content, mentioning principal subjects and individuals (including sometimes the writers and recipients of letters) ; and notes on restrictions, provenance, and available descriptions, catalogs, indexes, or calendars. Entries for some extensive collections merely refer users to published finding aids. ”

“ A description of a museum is by no means an easy task, even in the case of a small collection; but, when the number of specimens is as large as in the present instance, it is only possible to enumerate a very small proportion of the many treasures. ”

“ A modern collector and lover of perfect copies will witness, with shuddering, among Bagford's immense collection of Title Pages, in the Museum, the frontispieces of the Complutensian Polyglot, and Chauncy's History of Hertfordshire, torn out to illustrate a History of Printing. ”

“ There will be a few among the many who begin to make collections of various kinds who will keep at it. I know one young man who sold his stamp collection for enough to take him on his first trip abroad. ”

“ What is a public collection
91. A “public collection” is—
(a) the National Archives; (b) the collections of the National Heritage Board prescribed to be public collections by the Minister charged with the responsibility for the Board; (c) the permanent collection of a library; or (d) an archive. ”

“ At the risk of showing my ignorance, I wish to have it removed by answers to my present Queries.
I have before me a printed catalogue of a collection of antiques, drawings, and curiosities, which were to be sold by auction not far from a century and a half ago. It is upon a sheet of four pages, rather larger than foolscap, which it entirely fills. It seems to me a remarkable assemblage of valuable relics, and it is thus headed:—
"A catalogue, being an extraordinary and great collection of antiques, original drawings, and other curiosities, collected by a gentleman very curious ... ”

“ The extreme difficulty of forming such a collection as the present is very apparent when we compare its voluminous contents with those very few collections which, during the last fifty years, have on the dispersion of celebrated libraries occurred for sale. ”