Rare copies of Book of Mormon go missing
Today’s Salt Lake Tribune reports that two rare editions of the Book of Mormon–an 1840 Nauvoo edition and an 1841 Liverpool edition–have been stolen from an office in the Salt Lake University Institute of Religion. It doesn’t sound like the institute used the tightest security measures for safeguarding two books worth from $40,000 to $60,000 total. The Deseret News reports that the doors to the offices are “rarely locked.” The Tribune says:
The safe that contained them was stolen sometime between Oct. 24 and Tuesday. The books were believed to be the only contents of the safe, which was in the part of an office where one of the institute’s secretaries works. The secretary has been on vacation and returned to work on Monday, [institute director Allan] Gunnerson said.
Salt Lake City rare book seller Ken Sanders notes that stolen books of this type are usually sold within 24 hours.
I’m not certain that I would want rare copies of the Book of Mormon in non-pristine condition with stamps that read University Institute or Institute of Religion and feature check-out folders in the back.
Police are also investigating the possibility that the person responsible might have been after money, not aware what the safe actually contained.
Theives suck.
Comment by Jared — November 11, 2005 @ 4:10 pm
stealing scriptures? this is always a joke when a missionary’s backpack gets stolen–you can assume that the scoundrels are pretty bummed when they find there are only scriptures and religious brochures in their mark. but it’s not so funny when the scriptures are rare copies of old books. i sure hope the thieves weren’t LDS!
Comment by john fowles — November 11, 2005 @ 5:15 pm
I’m not sure which is worse, someone setting out to steal scriptures and succeeding (and possibly selling them, getting them eventually back to the church)–or someone setting out to steal money (less disturbing) and finding only two old books and then trashing the books leaving them lost forever (total loss). *siiigh*
Comment by Naiah Earhart — November 17, 2005 @ 3:02 pm