The Madness of Book Collecting
I’ve come to learn that there are a couple of drawbacks in pursuing book collecting as a hobby or passion. First, it can be expensive. Sometimes, it can be very expensive. Second, your collection can take up a lot of room and become a complete nightmare when you are moving to a new house, if not well before that time.
For those who are not dissuaded by these facts, BYU will hold its third annual A. Dean Larsen Book Collecting Conference next Thursday and Friday, November 3 and 4.
As described by the BYU University Librarian at the first conference, the Larsen conference “is our way of trying, in some way, to share with you the variety of collections and research topics that can be found in Special Collections.”
This year’s conference will feature a pre-conference workshop on Thursday on the art of paper marbling. Friday will feature seven seminars, three of them on Mormon-related topics:
Don Quixote and the Modern Narrative
Dale Pratt, Professor of Spanish and Portuguese at Brigham Young UniversityFinding Hidden Treasures in Almanacs
Madison U. Sowell, Scheuber and Veinz Professor of Humanities and Languages at Brigham Young UniversityMy Personal Collection of Mormon Books
Blaine Hudson, Collector of Mormon BooksReliquiae Victorianae: Or Scraps of Victorian Life
Linda W. Brown, Curator and Cataloger of the Victorian Collection in L. Tom Perry Special Collections
Russ Taylor, Head of Reference Services for L. Tom Perry Special CollectionsStarry Messengers: Early Printed Astronomy Books for Researchers, Collectors, and Admirers
Derek Jensen, Curator of European Book Collections, L. Tom Perry Special CollectionsThe Printed Word of Joseph Smith, Jr., 1830-1844
Larry W. Draper, Curator of Western and Mormon BooksThe Sources and the Challenges of the Joseph Smith Papers Project:
The L. Tom Perry Special Collections Perspective
David Whittaker, Curator of 19th Century Western and Mormon Manuscripts; Team Leader and Editor, Joseph Smith Paper Project
More information on each of the seminars can be found here.
The conference is limited to 80 participants and costs $60. Registration information can be found here.
The printed word of Joseph Smith looks intriguing. I’ve got a lame xerox copy (coil-bound) of WJS that is nearly falling apart from use, and I’ve been dying to get my hands on an original, but alas, $200 for a JS book doesn’t go over too well with the wife. And the Gospelink version isn’t consistent with the hard-copy.
I also have Kent Jackson’s Joseph Smith’s Commentary on the Bible, and in there he mentions a forthcoming Papers of Joseph Smith volume 3, but I have yet to find one. Does anybody know if it was ever published, and if so, where can I find one? I’m dying to see what was written in 1843 to 1844 (both PJS and Personal Writings of JSare cut short of ‘43-44).
Comment by David J — October 24, 2005 @ 1:38 pm
No, it was never published. The entire project has been renamed, revised, revamped, and enlarged, and the latest word is that volumes 1, 2, and 3 will be published next year. But I am not expecting too much here. The Ensign announced in April that twelve volumes were scheduled by the end of this year. That is not going to happen.
Comment by Justin Butterfield — October 24, 2005 @ 2:45 pm
The David Whittaker session looks quite interesting. I could pass on paper marbeling. Alas, I do covet Greg Prince’s collection.
And the Gospelink version isn’t consistent with the hard-copy.
Very much so? I am in the same boat and this is disconcerting. BTW, I just got an email from my friends at Purdue, and we should be rolling here soon.
Comment by J. Stapley — October 24, 2005 @ 3:16 pm
Justin — what a shame, as I find PJS 1 and 2 so helpful. I also picked up Personal Writings but lament that so much of it overlaps with PJS 1 and 2. I was hoping PW would give us what was promised in PJS 3, but it doesn’t.
Twelve volumes to cover Joseph’s journal? Hardly necessary, methinks. Furthermore, I question its comprehensiveness if the Church is at the editing helm. I can see them taking MUCH out during the remaining 9 months of JS’s life (especially regarding the Fulness). The DVD of archive material I think suffers from the same problem — it’s not comprehensive, and all the “good stuff” is likely snipped.
Stapley — yeah, the Gospelink ‘01 version is the one I use, it contains WJS, and is seriously FUBAR. The pagination is erroneous (as well as many other books), the automatic reference when you paste into Word fails frequently (especially copying/pasting out of footnotes), and the footnotes hyperlinks frequently lead you to nowhere, and sometimes the footnotes for a given section appear alongside another section to which they don’t belong, etc. etc. etc. About 4 years ago I called Deseretarded Book and complained, and they said it was Ehat’s fault. Yeah right, the dude is as meticulous as can be (see his website http://www.originalsources.com) and would never allow such garbage to make it to final production. LDS software is just sub-standard, IMO.
Do any of you guys have the new Gospelink or whatever it’s called? I think my father has it, but I asked him if it had WJS and he said “no.” I would buy it if it did, but for no other reason. I’m sticking with GLink ‘01 until WJS makes it back into a reliable database. I’d rather deal with some of its irregularities than nothing at all (although the super-duper-hyper old version of LDS Infobase has it, so I’ve heard).
Right on with Bachman’s thesis. Let me know when you’ve got it, and I’ll run Ehat’s down to Kinko’s and make you one.
Comment by David J — October 24, 2005 @ 4:06 pm
I should have been more specific. The journals and diaries will comprise three volumes. The other 25 (or so) volumes will contain sermons, letters, notices, manuscript history, and legal papers.
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,600123722,00.html
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,600123721,00.html
Comment by Justin Butterfield — October 24, 2005 @ 6:35 pm