A Noble Madness Audiobook By James Delbourgo cover art

A Noble Madness

The Dark Side of Collecting from Antiquity to Now

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A Noble Madness

By: James Delbourgo
Narrated by: James Delbourgo
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"In this fascinating, witty, and provocative book, Delbourgo's collectors range from emperors to scientists, from shopaholics to taxonomists, from bibliomaniacs to serial killers. Give it to the collector in your life, and watch the sparks fly!"―Cathy Gere, author of The Tomb of Agamemnon

A captivating history of obsessive collectors: from ancient looters and idolaters to fin de siècle decadents, Freudian psychos, and hoarders.

Collectors are often praised for their taste in art or contributions to science, and considered great public benefactors. But collectors have also been seen as dangerous obsessives who love objects too much. Why? From looters and idolaters to fin de siècle decadents and Freudian psychos, A Noble Madness is a captivating history of obsessive collectors from ancient times to today.

From Roman emperors lusting after statues to modern-day hoarders, award-winning author James Delbourgo tells the extraordinary story of fanatical collectors throughout history. He explains how the idea first emerged that when we look at someone's collection, we see a portrait of their soul: complex, intriguing, yet possibly insane. What Delbourgo calls "the Romantic collecting self" has always lurked on the dark side of humanity.

But this dark side has a silver lining. Because obsessive collectors are driven by passion, not profit, they have been countercultural heroes in the modern imagination, defying respectability and taste in the name of truth to self.

A grand portrait gallery of collectors in all their decadent glory, A Noble Madness recounts the saga of the human urge to accumulate, from Caligula to Marie Antoinette, Balzac to Freud, Norman Bates to Andy Warhol. Collectors' love of objects may be mad, even dangerous. But we want to believe their love’s a noble madness because by expressing that love, they are themselves.

©2025 James Delbourgo (P)2025 Random House Audio
Civilization Social Sciences World

Critic reviews

Delbourgo traverses time and place to portray collectors' roles… A well-researched history of the passion to possess.—Kirkus Reviews

Delbourgo's book deals with a different 'dark side of collecting'… [A Noble Madness] ultimately concludes that throughout history and the world over, 'by expressing that love' for things, collectors 'are themselves.'—Maggie Taft, Booklist

I never really understood just how intensely, wildly, hilariously, and sometimes tragically obsessive true collectors can be until I read, in breathless wonder, James Delbourgo’s magnificent A Noble Madness. This book is itself so compulsive and entertaining that I found myself wanting to collect the collectors whose lives and passions Delbourgo so brilliantly brings to life.—Stephen Fry, author of Odyssey: The Greek Myths Reimagined

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