[nice tight clean copy, appears unread, no discernible wear, NO remainder or other marks; jacket shows faint surface wear]. An author sets out to write a "mildly facetious study of that venerable institution, the English eccentric," but gets a lot more than he bargained for. His research "introduces him to a Felliniesque cast of characters, including an alluring woman named Victoria who collects lovers who collect cars," and eventually he himself becomes an obsessive collector, "eating, sleeping and breathing the works" of his primary quarry, reclusive novelist Thornton McCain.