Rare LDS Volume Sells For $391,000 at Auction
A rare copy of the Book of Commandments, an earlier version of the LDS Church's Doctrine and Covenants, sold at auction Monday for $391,000, including the seller's commission.
It was estimated to be worth between $400,000 and $500,000 because only about two dozen copies exist. But Christie's Auction House in New York was more than satisfied with the sale.
"We knew it was quite a valuable book," said Chris Coover, a senior specialist in books and manuscripts at Christie's who acquired the book from a non-Mormon family in upstate New York. "And we weren't far off." The high price was "a record for a 19th century American printed book. It was more than first editions by Poe, Melville and Longfellow have sold for."
Coover declined to name the buyer, saying only that it was a private individual rather than an institution.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Community of Christ (formerly known as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints), the Library of Congress and several universities all have copies of the book, said Curt Bench of Benchmark Books, a Salt Lake City company specializing in rare and out-of-print Mormon books and documents.
"It would be difficult for an institution to compete with private collectors at that price level because of their limited budgets," Bench said.
The Salt Lake Tribune October 31, 2001
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