A Passion for Collectingby Caroline Clifton-Mogg
Bulfinch Press; 192 pages
A couple of years ago our family stayed in a Cotswolds farm manager's house in the English town of Snowshill. The house was located opposite the Manor of Charles Paget Wade, who had filled it with contents collected from 1900 until 1951, when the house and its extraordinary collections were given to the National Trust.
At age seven Wade began purchasing small trinkets out of his pocket money, and 'the collecting fever never left him...from dusty attics and narrow back alleys he rescued the forgotten mementos of another age,'
"Over all a certain sadness lies, for all have seen fairer days. Time when each piece was brought home with pride, cared for, treasured and loved. Now all sadly neglected lies, forlorn and covered in dust.