An Infinity of Things: How Sir Henry Wellcome Collected the World

by Frances Larson

Richly illustrated throughout, including 8 pages of color plates, An Infinity of Things tells the story of the greatest private collection ever made, and the life of the man behind it. American-born Henry Wellcome made his millions as one of the world's first pharmaceutical entrepreneurs.
Drawing on his massive wealth, he planned a great museum filled with treasures from all corners of the globe, charting the history of human health from prehistory to the present day. Demonstrating what can happen when a collector's aspirations are left unconstrained by wealth, Frances Larson
explores Wellcome's life through his possessions, revealing the many tensions in his between his talents as a businessman and his desire for scholarly recognition; his curiosity and his perfectionism; and his philanthropic aspirations and his drive for personal glory. During the opening
decades of the twentieth century he acquired a collection so large that later generations of staff took to describing its contents by the ton. But Wellcome's museum was never finished, and his collection was still stored in vast warehouses when he died, unseen and incomplete.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Biography

358 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2009

Reviews

[Clare]

This book is a fascinating and unapologetic look at a man whose goal in life became overshadowed by his compulsion. Sir Henry Wellcome, partner in a pharmaceutical firm, had a grandiose idea: make a museum which would show the historyl of medicine from all ages and places. He was not prejudiced to the idea that even primitive cultures' and folk remedies had value in the history of medicine and that they might even further or enhance the world's understanding of that history.
As time went by, however, his collecting branched out to many different fields of study including anthropology and zoology.
Wellcome did manage to install part of his collection in his medical history museum which was open to only those in the medical or collegiate professions, with few exceptions. He had a staff which performed many tasks for him while he concentrated on his pharmacy business, though he did do quite a bit of collecting on his own time. The staff was in charge of collecting from firms, individuals and auction houses, cataloging the thousands of items that came in continuously from around the world, taking inventory of all those items and boxing them back up to be stored in several warehouses until an even bigger museum space could be located.
The section on how the staff and Wellcome finagled their way through the auction process was most fascinating and it is in this section that we catch a first glimpse of Wellcome's paranoia about other collectors.
His was a rags to riches story and he did do quite a bit of good with his money as in establishing research facilities on diseases and their cures. His compulsion for collecting was foremost, however, and he could definitely be considered a hoarder of extraordinary hubris. His goal had its merits but his collecting habit hindered it as well as enhanced it. This was certainly an interesting look at one man's obsession.

[Courtney Johnston]

Ugh. I really wanted to enjoy this book, as I'm fascinated by the Wellcome Collection. But perhaps my fascination with the Wellcome Collection is due to the amount of shaping and editing that has taken place since Wellcome died; on his demise, the collection filled warehouse after warehouse, and aspects of it were measured by the ton.

There's some fascinating stuff in here, not the least around Wellcome's pharmaceutical business, and how his collecting began with a dual purpose - to gather material to inspire his advertising and packaging, and to cement his social status in Edwardian London. But overall the book is doughy, and I felt like I was reading the same passage over and over.So when I realised I put it down last weekend, and hadn't picked it up again by this weekend, I realised it was time to move on. Popular science waits for no woman, and I have early natural philosophers to meet.

[Alex Rauket]

While the first 100 pages or so were interesting, it devolved into a story much the same....man obsessed with collecting buys more things. I admit, I gave up and did not finish, so there might be a killer twist, but I was unwilling to find out.

[Da-Aw]

One of my most favorite books. An interesting look at a time in history and gives a person a lot to think about when it comes to history, material things and our time here on this planet. I don't unerstand how anyone could give this a low rating (short sighted nitpickers?).

[Susan Meller]

Serious collectors of just about anything should read this book!

[Simon Wright]

An intriguing story of how Henry Wellcome, the founder of the drug company empire, was shaped by the world around him, of how his interest in collecting ‘curios’, coupled with wealth and an organisation, turned into an insane obsession which, perversely foiled him from achieving his (social) goals.

[Scott Connelly]

Well researched, this book deals with a peculiar man I'd previously known nothing about. The telling of the story drags a bit for being bloated with details. In all this was an interesting insight into the pitfalls of perfectionism.

[Hannah Owens]

Started off promisingly, but much like Wellcome's collection itself, could have improved greatly through focusing.