It is often said that, in times of catastrophe, people find their loved ones, their family pets – and their photographs – before fleeing for their lives. The wonderfully diverse images reproduced here include many of transcendent beauty and psychological insight, all with the magical, mysterious charge that comes from speculating on the circumstances in which they were taken. The number of collectors of anonymous photographs is growing exponentially. Robert Flynn Johnson has spent more than a decade on a personal journey of discovery to find the works reproduced here. These photographs are pleasurable and poignant, giving insight into the human secrets with which we can all identify.