Being one who constantly fights the unrelenting urge to collect useless-but-cool objects, I love this book: In Flagrante Collecto (caught in the act of collecting) by Marilyn Gelfman Karp, a refreshing and beautifully photographed celebration of the act — and art — of collecting unwanted objects…
For any lover of ephemera, the book provides gobs of eye-candy from vintage matchbooks and ashtrays to car air fresheners and garment tags. There are also plenty of bizarre items that become fascinating as part of a collection like animal traps made from mason jars and used shards of soap. It’s a gorgeous coffee table book and a lot easier to display — though no less inspiring — than a slew of thrift store treasures.
(Images: Carl Williamson)
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
I've been called everything from a hopeless pack rat to an avid collector. This definitely looks like a book to excite that impulse in me. Thanks for the heads up!
view BayRidger's profile
I bought this book when it first came out and still peruse it regularly. Highly recommended.
view mirandabee's profile
The book looks delicious, but the problem is, once you actually do collect craploads of any one thing, they just look like a jumble rather than like interesting individual things. So the picture on the cover of the book is lovey, but once you have 50 of those beaters or whisks or whatever they are all in the same place, it's just a chaotic mass of metal.
view Jenny in DC's profile