Collecting after objects

One more quote about libraries while we’re at it. Andy wrote in to remind me about this quote from a favorite essay of mine, Walter Benjamin’s “Unpacking My Library,” from Illuminations. It reads,

[There was an] answer which Anatole France gave to a philistine who admired his library and then finished with the standard question, “And you have read all these books, Monsier France?” “Not one-tenth of them. I don’t suppose you use your Sevres china every day?”

In sharing this quote, Andy observed (rather poetically I think),

Benjamin’s a good starting point to wonder about the nature of collecting as objects become de-objectified. Building private PDF libraries, for instance, will lack a certain spirit once these libraries are localized on devices that will be able to access any PDF from any library, ever. Why continue to collect? At that point we’ll no longer be collecting so much as rearranging, recommending various combinations of texts for others rather than hoarding for ourselves. The continued ubiquity of playlists.

Jackson on the block

Via Tagbanger comes this phenomenal slideshow of an upcoming auction of Michael Jackson’s “private art collection as well as fittings and furnishings from his Neverland ranch.” The rhinestone socks look surprisingly comfortable.

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Charles Moseley is dedicated to developing a quality archive of Cuban posters over at his blog. While I agree with Susan Sontag that there are certainly some meaningful problems presented by collecting posters of this kind, it is nonetheless wonderful to see so many extraordinarily inventive and beautiful Cuban posters all in one place. A nice resource for designers and historians alike.

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Via the witty and inspiring Reference Library comes a website for an antique dealer called Lost Found Art, who specialize in collections of, among other things, Tin Ray Guns.