I have written before about my affection for bookstores and particularly our own. And I must emphasize that I am praising places where books are displayed for access—my affection doesn’t extend to warehouses or places where books cannot be touched. Yes, I value libraries, but no matter how far I permit myself to become entangled in the vagaries of book collecting, afflicted by Gentle Madness, the safest of addictions of most edifying material lusts, I cannot forget that book value, whether conceptual or monetary, begins with content. Finished books preserve content in durable form. Bookstores present these simple packages of thought and vision for fertile minds to choose.

Simply standing in a bookstore or library has beneficial effect on human nature. I value humility and can’t reckon when its value is lost. A bookstore reminds one of the vastness of human experience and how its sum will bury the most ambitious among us. Does it surprise you that I find joy in this?

Maybe I am not as playful as I was in early childhood, but the awe I experience at work is real. I stand at intersections with more roads and bridges than can be counted. Each calls portents of stories half heard, maybe only rumored, possibly ordinary, but grown to fantastic proportions in the soil of unknowing. To immerse oneself in a book is like crossing a bridge to a foreign consciousness, because, as far as I can tell, my own senses and mind are my only native consciousness. Maybe the multiverse is all minds together, each the center of its own apparent universe.

It is precious and bold to enter another’s mind. Authors invite us in. The old and excellent technology of the book preserves the ideas, fancies and discoveries of authors well past their lives. Books are reproduced and their influence may proliferate. Books are found at the foundations of nearly all important developments in history. Fascist cultures are the first to slump to censorship.

Books bridge time by making the words of persons of earlier eras available for us. Books bridge cultural space by the labor of translation, offering us chances to understand and respect the diversity of our world. Despite the abundant harrowing news, humanity has progressed over the eras and the light provided by books is the main reason.

Reading, like choosing and walking paths, requires singular and effort. Whether one ponders 10 or 1000 books, one can only read one at a time. The unwalked paths and unread books, must wait until I make time. Until then, their quiet nudging potential, my awareness of how much bigger we are than I, their mere presence, their dormant yet vital promise excites my days, like realizing that no number of terms can describe the infinitesimal increments between green and blue.

On March 31st, Donald K. Winegar will provide our Collector's Chat, which will be titled, “Rotted Wood, Rusty Metal, and Darn Good Fire-starters! A Hobby that became a Passion that became a Quest!” Don’s bibliophily began in his elementary school library with fascination for exploration and the moon. He would soon discover the encyclopedia and, in 6th grade, he decided to read The Iliad and The Odyssey. By his teens he was reading history and his interest in mining history was born. For more than four decades, Don has frequented our bookstore and is among or favorite and most pleasant shoppers. For decades he has managed the website Treasure House Relics Project at MiningUtah.com. We understand the title of his Chat was lovingly scavenged from comments his wife made about his burgeoning collection of mining artifacts.

During the April 28th salon, bibliophile, customer, and frequent Salon guest Dianne Brown will share her books and her lifelong interest and fascination with The Great War, World War I. As her story goes, the interest took hold during adolescence and has held Dianne’s curiosity ever since. We understand she has hundreds of titles. I hope it’s okay to tell you that she adds another rare volume to her collection on each of her birthdays.

Utah citizen and folklorist Olive Wooley Burt’s book American Murder Ballads was published by Oxford in 1958. It has become a very scarce title. Sam Weller was friends with Olive. This very good dust-jacketed copy is inscribed to Sam by her. $500

Also from Sam Weller’s aviation collection comes a scarce jacketed 1st edition of Carl Mann’s biography of aviator and Medal of Honor recipient James H. Doolittle: Lightning in the Sky: The Story of Jimmy Doolittle, published in 1943. $250

We have a very nice 1st edition of Tony Hillerman’s first mystery, The Blessing Way, published in 1970. Our copy is autographed by Hillerman on the half-title. The dust jacket is price-clipped with rubbed edges and a crease in the front panel. Hard book to find. $700

First American editions of Karl Ove Knausgaard’s Seasons Quartet: Autumn, Winter, Spring, Summer. A likely unread set that could be mistaken as new. $75

In 1963 Gloria Steinem went undercover with an assumed name and became a Playboy Bunny, shortly thereafter, she published her experience and observations in two issues of Show Magazine. The May 1963 issue contains the first part of Steinem’s expose, “A Bunny’s Tale.” You may own our copy with a few creases in covers for $75

Newspaper Articles by Dr. James E. Talmage published at weekly intervals: Series A during 1917 and Series B during 1918. In total 104 single-page articles by Talmage, held together in card-stock covers with prong fastener. The above title is calligraphically written on the front cover above President’s Office Library, which would have been Joseph F. Smith. A scarce batch of documents. $300

Four Hidden Revelations by John Taylor, third President and Prophet of the Latter-day Saints. This 36-page 12mo pamphlet was likely printed around 1930. Another item from Sam Weller’s collection. $30

Teachings of President Brigham Young: Salvation for the Dead, The Spirit World and Kindred Subjects, a 22-page pamphlet from 1922 isn’t as common as it once was. We have a good copy with light soiling for $75. Flake 10,069.

Receive 20% off when you purchase during March & April

Both a blessing and a curse of bibliophilia is the voracious appetite for knowledge—the more I learn, the more I realize how little I know. Well, my friend, I can tell you one thing: I now know a ridiculous amount about bees thanks to The Bees in Your Backyard by Joseph S. Wilson and Olivia Messinger Carril.

Full of campy horror, contentious relationships, and family tragedy, this story is sometimes ridiculously silly and other times completely gory. There’s an effortlessness to Hendrix’s writing—it's easy to get pulled into—and this book has, in my opinion, one of his best female protagonists yet.

Release date this March! We meet the protagonist retreating from her burning-down home to carve out a homestead in the Wyoming territory with not much in the way of supplies other than a burden-filled trunk. This storyline is so original, emotive and entertaining. I love LaValle’s genius writing style. He plays with themes of monstrousness, survival, family, loneliness, isolation, independence, suppression...all with marginalized people in the wild Western frontier.

This story is full of heart and grit with a diverse coven assembled to take down the patriarchal system. The main character and her grandmother grow more and more charming as the book progresses. The relationships and character development are expertly crafted like a powerful potion. Dimaline’s writing is so well balanced, both playful and reflective.

This is a very interesting book that goes deeper than mysterious deaths. Centering around a small Polish community and it's wildlife, the unconventional protagonist and suspects are uniquely written, creating a stand-out read. There are little gems of sass, wisdom, and thoughts on environmentalism throughout. The isolated atmosphere makes it feel like a wintry read—almost cozy but slightly uncomfortable.

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