What? No ISBN? No price? What's happening? Tom Kimball, currently with Signature Books, has published a brief tome on the stated subject -- Mormon Book Collecting. He very kindly sent me a copy and invited comments, which I gladly share.

First, the title might be a bit misleading. There really isn't much specifically Mormon about his book, despite the occasional mention of an LDS book as illustrative of his point. What he has given us here is a manual of terminology used by book manufacturers, sellers and collectors. And as such, it's a very welcome addition to my admittedly-limited store of knowledge.

Kimball discusses such themes as bindings, dust jackets, the different parts of a book, and other ideas that will interest book lovers. He also gives us a nice glossary of book-related terms. I confess -- I learned a lot from this little book.

What I wish he'd done was spent a lot more time, and added to the size of the book, by focusing more clearly on Mormon books. This is a vast field, one that frustrates many of us as we try to understand the field. The cover of his book is not helpful either -- six books stand side-by-side. Hugh Nibley's "Abraham in Egypt" stands directly alongside the collection "Four Faith Promoting Classics." Are they of equal value? I don't think so. And the presence of "Indian Depredations in Utah" by Gottfredson? On the same shelf with "Four Faith Promoting Classics?" Perhaps he was giving us a picture of the scope of Mormon book-collecting. I don't know.

To his credit, I could find only a single typo -- page three has "thy" for "they." Blame the spell-checker.

I'm going to hang on to this book, having full faith in my friend Tom that he will one day expand the book and make it a truly useful book on Mormon Book Collecting.

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Jeff Needle
jeff.needle@general.com