From the “About” page:
“Browsing The Stacks” proposes to be a celebration of Mormon book collecting. For the title, I’m inspired by my fondness for browsing the stacks of the Mormon book section at the BYU library and coming across a great book I didn’t know about and would have never found had I not taken the time to browse.
This will be a place to talk about books for the sake of books rather than to critique them on their ideological slant or their historiographical value. Hopefully, taking a more neutral position on these matters, we can provide some common ground for lovers of Mormon books to discuss their love of collecting.
I hope to feature collectible Mormon books, some fun and interesting tidbits about them, and some fun guest posts from dealers and other collectors on everything from practical tips to their own adventures in collecting.
The masthead photo has been kindly provided by Hugh McKell of Bear Hollow Books, a version of which once served as the masthead for his old website. I’m proud to have it here as a tribute, of sorts, to a continuing legacy of Mormon book collecting. I hope you’ll enjoy the site and check back often.
I like that Signature Books titles make up about 60% of the shelf.
Tom
Well, you guys just keep making runs of 500
Jared and Bret: thanks for picking up on this idea and running with it. It’s one I’ve wanted to pursue but simply didn’t have the time. I look forward to some great posts!
Cris
Thanks for the kinds words, Cris. We’ve got some great ideas, so we have high hopes
This is great! I have spent many years collecting LDS Books and have looked forward to a forum like this were I can connect with other book enthusiasts!
Thanks. . .
Thanks for stopping in GBJ, it should be fun!
Yes, I thought that your masthead reflected suspiciously of Bro. Hugh! Nicely done indeed, and well wishes to you in this exciting new browse. Although, why anyone would want to collect books, I can only . . .
LoL, Rick. Pot, meet kettle.
Yes, I will confess that the masthead is a photo of some of my books. Actually they are some of the books sitting on the very top shelf on the south wall of my library. You know – “the higher they are the harder they fall”! Here in earthquake country it doesn’t make much sense to tempt Mother Nature, but they are all good ‘active’ books so I am sure they will be protected . . .
Tom observes that so many are Signature titles. My hat is off to Signature and the great service they have provided both for the collector, historian as well as those just interested in Mormon studies. Some of the more collectable of Signature’s titles are the Wilford Woodruff Diaries. As you can see from the photo, there seems to be a difference in spine stamping starting with volume 5 on. This does not show as much when looking at them first hand but are accentuated with the camera. Perhaps Tom can tell us if a different printer/binder was used in the process – that might explain the difference. Also, I am still not sure how many sets were printed and sold. Some of the sets have a printed number and others are hand-calligraphy.
Inquiring minds want to know.
http://signaturebooks.com/?p=2007
There are several stories that come into play. The first volumes were in fact published one at a time. At some point that strategy was abandoned and the final volumes were done all at once. There are also two printings AND there are incomplete sets out there.
Biblio-chaos, glorious biblio-chaos!
That’s the short version. The larger version would probably bring a lawsuit on my head. Feel free to read the longer version in my own journals, which are sitting at a university archive and sealed for another 25 years.
I’ll be out of the country by then.
Hugh, good catch, I had never actually noticed that (partly cuz I haven’t seen too many sets out there).
That’s really interesting, Tom.
Hm, the biblio-chaos is hurting m’brain.
Take a look at that bright copy of Pioneers & Prominent Men. You don’t see copies like that very often.
Believe it or not, Hugh and I still have the mail list for the old LDS-Bookshelf though it hasn’t been used for years. I’ll send out a note announcing this blog. ‘twil be interesting to see if any of the addresses still work.
Thanks, Keith! Do you still have access to all the old posts on the old LDS-Bookshelf? That would be a trove of info.
[reading it more closely, maybe you just have the email list, not the posts]
We do have archives of most of the messages. They are very “raw” meaning they have all the headers attached which makes reading them pretty tedious. We talked a coupla times about editing them for a “best of LDS-Bookshelf” but so far it’s just been talk.
For laughs, take a look at the old LDS-Bookshelf website archived on Wayback.
http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.wenet.net/~kirwin/bshelf.html
Ugh, Keith. Mention of the bright copy of Pioneers & Prominent Men brings back the memories of the one I sold a few months ago that was pristine. I made a pretty penny, but I’m not sure I will ever get over the guilt of making that sale. Which gives me another idea for a post…