Mechira Pumbit (Auction), Israeli magazine for Collectors and Art, edited by Yehuda May, No. 56, July, 2007, published by Mechira Pumbit, 106 pages, NIS 48

This is a magazine of the sort that is printed on thick glossy paper and looks like any magazine that is intended for wealthy hobbyists. Anyone can be a collector, anyone can buy a small pastel picture even for $46 (I found it on the price list) but there is collecting and then there is collecting. Collecting bottle-caps is not like collecting vintage cars and it appears that car collectors will find greater interest in this magazine than bottle-cap collectors. Thus, reading Mechira Pumbit is like peeking through the opening in a fence at a party to which you haven't been invited. Nevertheless it is possible to learn something here, says the voyeur to himself.

I, for example, didn't know how complicated and multifaceted a walking stick could be until I read the charming article by Aryeh Gilai. Ostensibly it is a humdrum, almost two-dimensional object. In fact, it is a creature that has a complex anatomy. "It is possible to place it under one's armpit and feel like an English general," reports the writer delightedly, but then he abandons us, helplessly, before the huge dispute among experts as to the desirable length: "Exactly one-half an individual's height plus five centimeters." Or: "The height [from the ground] to the fold of skin at the wrist."