He had a special fondness for the white Japanese anemones that backed, calmly and blankly, the psychedelic annuals he tried out in his beds.

ECONOMIST: Christopher Lloyd

Her books document the transition from tradition to Western motifs and shapes, among them coffee pots and sugar casters, and also delves into the sources for the armorial pieces for which this Brazilian collector has a special fondness.

ECONOMIST: A Brazilian collector puts his wares on display

The man himself often lived up to his bleak dream-world: lean, intense, racked by stomach complaints, and with a special fondness for the rugged limestone island of Faro, off Sweden's east coast, where he built a low stone house on an empty sweep of rock.

ECONOMIST: Ingmar Bergman