Stuff

On a visit to the Davis Public Library yesterday, I checked out In Flagrante Collecto (caught in the act of collecting), by Marilynn Gelfman Karp, a folio-sized paean to collections of all kinds and to their collectors, also of all kinds. There are lots of illustrations of things people have collected, interspersed with Karp's discoursing on the allure of it all.

Some of the collections are what you'd expect—stamps, baseball cards, old advertising signs, postcards, matchbooks—but some are truly bizarre. Ever met anyone who collects those tags attached to mattresses and upholstered furniture, the ones that say "Do not remove under penalty of law"? Apparently, many flouters of the law have amassed these in carefully tended collections. And how about "wait your turn" tickets, those little paper tabs imprinted with a number that tell you how long you have to stand around until the deli guy takes your order? These, too, are considered collectible by Ms Karp, who claims to have quite a few of her own.

I like lots of things and some part of my psyche would like to collect any number of interesting objects, but though I blame my lack of space as the reason I don't, I know the real reason, which is that everything that I bring home that could be called a collection never gets collected. It just ends up in a drawer or on a shelf behind something else, and dies of neglect. Oh, well . . . I'll be happy to save mattress tags for anyone who'd like them.