Along with the notes that lead to his amazing body of work, Benjamin collected artifacts, images, texts and signs, all of which he carefully categorized, logged and analyzed. Some of them related to his hopes and dreams, his musings and commentary on the state of the arts, sentimental objects, germs of ideas for his work, catalogs, records of his son's first words, and a host of bits and pieces, all of which were interlinked in his mind. Beginning with an astute assessment of Benjamin as archivist, the editors describe the tiny scraps which to him loomed large, illustrations of Russian toys, notebooks, picture postcards, outlines and scraps of compositions, interesting graphic forms, studies of arcades, word games, and a series of Siena mosaics. The photographs of the artifacts are of high quality and well chosen, and the collection as a whole provides significant insight into Benjamin's preoccupations and working methods. Annotation ©2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

The works of the great literary and cultural critic Benjamin are a reservoir of texts, commentaries, and fragments of everyday life. This beautifully designed book gives an insight into Benjamins habits of collecting and archiving through some of his most personal documents.

Walter Benjamin was born in Germany in 1892 and died in Spain in 1940. His other books include Illuminations, The Arcades Project, and, with Verso, One-Way Street and The Origin of German Tragic Drama.