Journal of the History of Collections Volume 1 [-16] [ 32 issues, 1989-2004 unbroken run ]

Oxford University Press, Oxford, original journal issues, 1989-2004. 32 journals, pictorial wrappers, 8vo, 25 cm,. typically between 90 and 120 pp per issue, many ills. An unbroken run of the first 16 years of this semi-annual journal, from the first issue in 1989 to 2004. The Journal of the History of Collections is a scholarly journal "dedicated to the investigation and documentation of all aspects of collecting activity". The range of subject-matter treated in the Journal is wide, encompassing everything from the earliest universal collections to highly-specialized ones. Equally collections of all periods are covered from the Renaissance 'cabinets de curiosites' to 20th century collections; there have been occasional articles too on both medieval and Roman period collections. The approach is cross-disciplinary with the object of making papers in what may be specialized subjects accessible to a broad readership of non-specialists : 'it is well known that the mechanisms of collecting and classification developed in natural history, for example, came to influence practices amongst collectors and curators in the fine arts and in ethnography, hence every opportunity is taken here to illustrate and to illuminate the common ground that exists between all those whose researches were founded on material collections.' The Journal regularly commissions reviews by established scholars of publications that have appeared within its subject-area (as well as occasional reviews of exhibitions), rendering it the most comprehensive source available on a subject of increasing interest and study. A Very Good set with just occasional minor wear to spine-ends.