In the Iliad, we observe two modes of narration. The first appears when Homer describes Achilles' shield: it is a complete form in which Hephaestus has depicted all he knew about a city, its surrounding rural areas, wars, and its peaceful rituals.

The other mode manifests when the poet fails to recount how many and who the Achaean warriors were: then he seeks help from the muses but is forced to restrict himself to the so-called listing of the ships, which concludes with an 'and so on.' This second mode of presentation constitutes the list or catalog.

There are lists that are written for practical purposes and are finite, such as the list of all the books in a library; however, there are also lists that aim to include non-measurable quantities, lists that never conclude, reaching the limits of the infinite.

As this new book by Eco and the anthology it contains shows, the history of literature throughout the ages is rich in lists, from Hesiod to Joyce, and from Ezekiel to Calvino. These are catalogs often created for the pleasure of enumeration itself or for the joy of connecting elements that have no particular connection to each other.

This book, however, does not only refer to literature but attempts to show that the visual arts are also capable of including lists that continue into infinity, even when the depiction seems to be strictly limited by the frame of the painting itself. This is evidenced by the rich illustration in this book, which is not addressed to 'specialists' but to all who love the mysteries of writing and image.