The Critical Mess

THE CRITICAL MESS is an illustrated compendium of articles by and about legendary collector of Americana Michael Zinman, with more than two dozen chapters, including "The Book Eater", Mark Singer's profile for the New Yorker ; essays by Bill Reese, James Green ; and much more.
From the late 1970s onward, Mr. Zinman's collecting habits evolved into what he has called the critical mess theory of collecting : get enough examples of something and you can begin to see what patterns emerge.
As James Green writes, "he set out, quite simply, to acquire every available early American imprint and to build a collection that would surpass all previous private holdings and all but the largest institutions." That extraordinary collection is now at the Library Company of Philadelphia. Mr. Zinman has subsequently formed many other extraordinary collections.