Minute of the Presidential Address

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS

16TH OCTOBER 2008


Dr Douglas McLellan was introduced by last year's President Dr Watson. His address on 'Pathological Pursuits' was subtitled 'The Psychopathology of Collectomania'.

Dr McLellan did not intend describing his own collecting interests or specifically looking at particular collecting habits – books, stamps, coins, etc. He wanted to look at the characteristics which defined or were common to the habit of collecting. He provided a definition – a pursuit followed actively, selectively and passionately involving the removal from normal use into the collection of a set of non-identical objects or experiences. At times the behaviour might be seen as addictive or even manic – hence terms such as bibliomania. Often the process of acquisition was more attractive than ownership itself with collectors using any variety of excuse to pursue an object. The rarity of the object might well increase the challenge of the pursuit. Inevitably the collection or its acquisition can become a controlling factor in the collector's life.

Dr McLellan identified various characteristics driving the collecting impulse by illustration from various historical figures. Alexander the Great collected historical artefacts, apparently through longing or nostalgia for a bygone era. In Sigmund Freud's case the loss of his father seemed to trigger his drive to acquisition of around 3000 objects from antiquity. These crowded his desk and as may often be the case perhaps said a fair amount about the collector. Sir Thomas Phillips, described as a vellomaniac Victorian, was initially driven by a desire to rescue manuscripts which might otherwise have been destroyed but ended up living in what others described as uninhabitable squalor with every room in his mansion house crowded with papers of all sorts.

Perhaps in general collecting tends to be a male trait with women investing more in relationships. However the foremost collector of modern art was Peggy Guggenheim. Again loss may have been a factor – the death of her father in the Titanic. She appeared to collect not only art but men – famous for her sequence of affairs. One possible analysis is that collecting takes over when the individual cannot find what he or she is looking for – and transfers attention to something else.

Perhaps the most striking of the list was Cardinal Mazarin at the Court of Louis XIV. It was said that his collecting formed an attempt to improve his rather cold and calculating external character. He amassed a huge collection of art and books including 660 paintings. The most morbid example was the 15th Century Cardinal Albrecht von Hohenzollern, a collector of religious relics and indulgences. The former amounted to over 20,000 with 42 intact bodies among them – an observation of some passing interest given Dr McLellan’s profession. 'Indulgences' from the church authorities gave the prospect of remission from purgatory and the cardinal amassed 39 million years' worth. He funded his collecting by selling indulgences – one of the abuses of church authority which led to Martin Luther's revolt.

Dr McLellan had given us an interesting insight into patterns and examples of collecting without hinting at, or explaining, his own habits. It was left to Mr George Gray, his neighbour, in proposing a vote of thanks to comment that Mrs McLellan was probably grateful that her husband did not follow some of the excesses he had described.

D. Macintyre