The Invisible Collection

Stefan Zweig's The Invisible Collection still manages to strike the reader with its ability to masterfully sketch the contours of collecting obsession. Illustrated by paintings Daumier dedicated to collectors, this second book in the Dedale series is opened by Pedro Correa do Lago's preface, which is followed by Guillaume Glorieux's introduction. First published in 1925, Austrian writer Stefan Zweig's short story The Invisible Collection still manages to strike the reader with its ability to masterfully sketch the contours of collecting obsession. Deeply fascinated by the innovations that enriched European thought in the 1920s, first and foremost psychoanalysis, which also echoes among these pages, Zweig constructs a story that, despite being deeply anchored in time and space, is still relevant and full of humanity.

In addition to the engravings by Duerer and Rembrandt mentioned in the story, this second book in the Dedale series is illustrated by the paintings that the French painter Honore Daumier. It is opened by a preface by Brazilian writer Pedro Correa do Lago, who shares with Zweig a collecting passion for letters and autograph manuscripts by well-known authors, which is followed by an introduction by Guillaume Glorieux, who focuses on the relationship between collection and wealth, as well as the importance of collecting and the joy of sharing.