A Noble Madness: The Dark Side of Collecting from Antiquity to Now

by James Delbourgo

A history of obsessive collecting, 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, but a dangerous obsession sometimes drives their passion: Roman emperors who lusted after statues; Chinese scholars obsessed with rocks and flowers; fin de siècle dandies surrounded by bibelots. History is full of stories about those who love things more than people, presenting a danger either to themselves or others.

In this sweeping history from antiquity to today, James Delbourgo tells the extraordinary story of the mad collector as a cultural figure, from the tyrant and idolater to the sexually repressed "psycho" of the Freudian imagination and the modern-day hoarder. He concludes that because passion rather than profit drives them, obsessive collectors also have been cultural heroes, seen as true to themselves. Some may be mad, but theirs is a noble madness.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Art, Audiobook

306 pages, Hardcover

Published August 12, 2025

Reviews

[Pooja Peravali · Rating 3 out of 5]

The obsessive collector in history has worn many faces - a magician, a scientist, a connoisseur, a madman - but whether they are a force for good or evil in their societies is a more complicated question.

When I think of collectors I usually think of the modern kind who collects some specific category of kitsch because they like them, be it stuffed animals or porcelain figurines or Stephen King novels. As someone who dislikes clutter and has moved around a lot, I haven't amassed much beyond a closetful of books (and I promise I've read most of them too!). But Delbourgo's definition of a collection, as well as the reasons that may drive the act of collecting, are much wider than that.

This was an interesting read that looks at people and their collections starting in the time of the Roman Empire to the modern-day. Delbourgo covers the shifting attitudes towards and around the act of collecting throughout the ages and around the world - I was especially interested to learn about how collecting in Ming period China was considered a mark of sophistication. I also appreciated how he discussed the role of collectors in the explosion of zoology and botany during the Age of Enlightenment, and later in the keen interest European nations took in the acquisition of colonies, as I'd never considered those topics from this angle.

I did feel though that the writing was rather dry, especially as the book went on and we got into more of the suggested psychological theories behind why humans collect things. One of the reasons I picked up this book is because I wanted to learn more about the human side of obsessive collecting, but between that theorizing and the in-depth discussions of fictional collectors, I felt that the stories of the historical collectors got short shrift. I would have enjoyed if we got into more depth especially on the final chapters which dealt with modern-day hoarding and with the shift in recent times to the mindset that collections should serve as financial investments as opposed to being for mere enjoyment.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.

[Siri Olsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Noble Madness details the history of collecting from antiquity to the recent past with an emphasis on the darker psychological aspects of the phenomenon, both real and imagined. As such, the book discusses collectors in the real world but also touches on the ways in which collectors have been portrayed in popular culture, from literature and visual arts to the modern cinema. The book is very well researched, and James Delbourgo does a more than credible job with an often difficult subject. That said, the second half of the book was in my opinion far superior to the first. A consequence of employing a chronological approach is obviously that the farther back in time one goes, the less direct evidence is available and the more speculation must therefore be applied. But even so, I felt that the author's examination of earlier collectors was far less thorough than it could have been. The second part of the book makes up for it though, offering in-depth discussions and a wealth of information on the collecting mania, both real and imagined.

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Throughout history people have guessed that very determined collectors are kind of crazy. The degree to which people have believed this has varied, but there does seem to be something "not quite right" about someone who devotes most of their waking hours to adding to their hoard.
This is an interesting tale of people who have collected everything from beanie babies to African art to insects to celebrities' garbage. It spans centuries of history but includes the modern response to hoarders.

[Book Club of One · Rating 3 out of 5]

Is collecting madness, a compulsion or a normal human expression? James Delbourgo's A Noble Madness: the Dark Side of Collecting from Antiquity to Now ostensibly focuses on this question, but much more of it focuses on the first two parts of that questions. The book begins with Ancient Rome before expanding to cover covetous royalty (European and Chinese), mad bookmen and acquisitive naturalists, among many others.

Through 13 chapters and an epilogue, Delbourgo spends time in many different regions and focuses on multiple perspectives. It is very much a survey history of major collectors and their collections, along with differing understandings of the motivations to collect. Some are portrayed as greedy, compulsive, or spoiled while a few others are regarded more as ahead of their, seeking to capture examples of creatures before extinction or gathering the ephemeral advertisements before they exist only in memory.

It is very readable, but does suffer some for its wide scope. Can you truly address the full history of humanity collecting in under 300 pages? Delbourgo certainly tries, but there is a clear focus on the morbid, controversial or compulsive, much more time is devoted to the fiction collectors such as Norman Bates. Isabella Gardner is mentioned several times, but not in a single section, instead a quote from her leads a chapter and her name comes up in a few different sections. One glaring oversight is not providing the counter point. Delbourgo is focused on the mad, greedy or compulsive, what would be considered now to be hoarders. Which is a shame, with a slight tweaking, a more balanced view could've included collections that document atrocities, the work of Charles L Blockson and his African American History collection or Marion Stokes who recorded an estimated 840,000 hours of televised content.

Yes collecting is something all children seem to do, and there are clear examples from history of collecting gone wrong, (Nazi art theft and anthropological Native American collections), but is the mad collector truly a necessary figure? Instead explore them individually, looking at what they gathered and the potential why, which Delbourgo does, but gets lost in the Freudian possibilities.

Recommended to readers of psychology, weird topic survey histories, or books with clear agendas.

I received a free digital version of this book via NetGalley thanks to the publisher.

[W.S. Luk · Rating 3 out of 5]

The collector has been a reviled figure for much of history, identified with motifs of unhealthy obsession, philistinism and materialism, psychological dysfunction, or even an inherent aura of immorality. A NOBLE MADNESS offers a cultural history of collecting, both in its literal forms (popular responses to the founders of museums or private artistic collections) and more figurative ones (Freud's approach to cataloguing dreams and psychological experiences), seeking to understand why this act has been so discussed, admired, and reviled, and the impulses that drove history's most notable collectors. Delbourgo's dynamic prose dramatises his rather academic topic, offering brief sketches that place the reader in the position of fictitious characters (Marion Crane in Hitchcock's PSYCHO, Des Esseintes in À REBOURS) that keep this book feeling energetic, even if its centuries-spanning scope does make its pace flag at some points.

However, the one notable omission in this collection (as it were) is Delbourgo's surprisingly brief account of contemporary efforts to revise museums' attitudes towards their colonial pasts. He gives pleasingly complex descriptions of allied subjects, such as Byron's famous response to the acquisition of the Elgin Marbles and a fascinating discussion of Native Americans who helped Western museums collect their own tribal artefacts and conduct anthropological research, but A NOBLE MADNESS devotes oddly little space to this major development in museum culture, a change which may well be the defining transformation that the act of collecting goes through in the near future.

[sarah m ☽₊‧⁺˖⋆ · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Collecting is but writing in water"

ˋ° *⁀➷ Rating: 4/5 ✰

I think this book is very aptly named: it promised exactly what it delivered. A Noble Madness: The Dark Side of Collecting from Antiquity to Now is about collectors throughout time and the public perceptions of them (particularly focusing on how polarizing they can be seen.) Some people and cultures view collectors as greedy or insane, while others think they are simply nostalgic or maybe scientific. One of my favorite examples in this book is probably Marie Antoinette, since she was so passionate about art and fashion, but her collections exemplified the common peoples' grievances with nobility at the time. Before reading this book, I never really knew that Marie Antoinette was a proper collector - or at least, I never really thought about her in that lens.

There are lots of other fun examples in this book about collectors and how wild the public's reactions to them can be, and I don't want to spoil all the interesting bits. If you're looking for a niche little nonfiction book that can teach you about subjects you haven't paid much attention to before, I highly recommend this one. Especially for all the girlies who are addicted to blind boxes right now! I think collecting is super topical with the chaos of labubus and trinket culture. It's always cool to think about how humans really don't change much over time.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own and not sponsored in any way.

[Bandit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everybody collects something. But do we define our collections, or do we let our collections define us?
In this fascinating, erudite study, the author traverses centuries to explore the very nature of collecting, be it books, taxidermy, art, etc. The point is, it's all treasures. Even hoarding is, in a way, collecting. It's only the idea of what constitutes as a treasure that changes, varying from person to person.
Collecting can be delightful or dangerous; it can illuminate or destroy lives, give purpose or take over all other goals. And it is truly fascinating to behold its effect on people's psyche. Madness indeed.
That said, this book is written by a professor and reads accordable like a good, but rather dense textbook. despite the relatively small page count, it took me quite a while to get through.
But it felt like a good brain workout, so totally worth it. Thanks Netgalley.

[Itzy Morales · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was a lot to take in. It was a lot of information and felt a little dense at times - okay a lot of the times.

You learn a lot about collectors from Ancient Rome, to fictional characters, to Andy Warhol, to book lovers (take a dig at me why don’t you?!). At times, Delbourgo is very thorough with his account on collectors but then starts divulging information that personally, I didn’t think was needed.

One interesting point that was taken into account was the distinguishing factor between collectors and hoarders. Incredibly interesting and wished the chapter was longer.

Thank you to W. W. Norton & Company for the ARC.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to Norton and Net Galley for allowing me to read an advance copy.

3.5 stars (rounded up)

On the whole, this is an enjoyable, readable investigation into the motivations behind collecting. Delbourgo spans history, giving examples of collectors and the views on collecting written by their contemporaries.

The author takes Freudian analysis as his backbone though, and I think the analysis suffers by looking so strongly through this lens. At the end though, he seems to pivot into what an outsider wants from a collection rather than what the collector wants. A topic like this isn't black or white but the book felt more like an aimless survey than a work with a point.

I enjoyed reading it, but I'd suggest taking it as a long form listicle with an intriguing curation of examples.

[Colleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an enjoyable book, but not as fun as I had hoped it would be. It was more a scholarly treatise that compared written accounts of collectors and their collections than a close look at any of the fascinating personalities or collections it talked about.
I was hoping for an Orchid Thief, Sex on the Moon, or the Knife man and this was more…..An analysis of collecting and attitudes towards collecting through the ages.”

[Kit★]

Marking as maybe, because as a collector myself (of books, of glass, of cats, (and good lord, yes, I still have a good chunk of the Beanie Baby collection of my youth too... they're still cute!) and of lots of other things I don't need, but definitely want...) this sounds like it could be quite interesting, and maybe I'd learn something xD

[Jessica - How Jessica Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

Parts of this were interesting. Parts were extremely dull. And parts were surprisingly sexual. I hadn’t really thought through Freudian implications of collecting. But now, thanks to this, I have… in excruciating detail.

[Claire Q · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars - I think people didn't like this because it criticizes collecting, something many of us love. But it's in the title - the dark side of collecting. I found it interesting and learned some things.

[Susan Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read about Collectors. I learned a lot from reading this book.

[Kathryn Gritts · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned a lot about collecting through the ages up until today. The book is thorough and covers a lot of ground. Very academic.

[Egghead · Rating 2 out of 5]

collecting is bad
glad i got from library
and only skimmed it!

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing read.