Benjamin concluded his essay on book collecting by letting us know that collecting ‘is the most profound relation that one can have to things.’ I will defend Benjamin’s views on collecting against the criticisms of his friends Gershom Scholem and Hannah Arendt. Drawing on Benjamin’s ideas on history, I will argue that true collecting treats the object historically. Collecting is a way of meditating on history. Benjamin’s criticism always required the particular in which to immerse itself. I will consider a particular collection – in this case, a collection of Surrealist books and publications. This example will allow for a reading of Benjamin’s essay on Surrealism alongside his essay on book collecting (both published in the same venue less than two years apart), for which it will be necessary to consider the development and afterlife of Surrealism, and Surrealism’s influence on Benjamin.