This is a story of one man's growing enthusiasm for art through his passion for collecting. He says that he was only a little aware of the Paul Henry original painting of New Ross, his home town, which hung in the house of a school-friend there, but it influenced him to make a successful bid of five shillings (25p) at auction for a small painting by Mainie Jellet. He refused to accept an immediate offer of 80 times what he had paid. He only slowly realised that he had become a serious art collector.

Building his extensive private collection is treated as an adventure which is interwoven with the big events of his personal life: engagement to 18 year old Antoinette, marriage and raising a family in Malaysia and Ghana, while managing the brewing of beer for Guinness. Then, travelling the world selling Irish malt to breweries and distilleries, he tells how he was able to visit galleries in London, Paris, Tokyo and New York, and could meet artists, like sculptor Henry Moore, in their own studios and discuss their work, while adding to his own collection, when he could afford it.

In this memoir we see how the Rosc exhibitions were created, how the Arts Council works, and how the large art collection in state buildings has developed. Pat Murphy has been a central figure in all of these, and tells the story with his characteristic and infectious zest for life.