A rare, first-edition copy of one of the Mormon community’s most holy books has been missing for nearly a week, and its owner would like to have it back so it can complete its religious mission.
On Monday, Helen Schlie, owner of Downtown Mesa’s Rare and Out of Print Books and Art, located at 121 S. Mesa Drive, noticed that her first edition of the Book of Mormon from 1830 that was translated by Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints founder Joseph Smith himself, was missing from its usual spot — an unlocked bottom drawer of a filing cabinet in a back room of the shop.
Two young women who were on a mission trip came into the store that afternoon to have their picture taken with the book; hundreds of people from all over the world have, Schlie said, since she purchased it in the 1960s from a man who needed money.
But when she opened the bottom drawer of the metal filing cabinet she kept the book in, prepared to pull it out of its fire-proof case, it wasn’t there.
Mesa police detectives now are investigating the book’s disappearance, and on Thursday were inside the store that also is known for having one of the better collections of Horatio Algiers and Edgar Burroughs books.
The 588-page worn, brown leather book, which Smith translated from gold plates in New York, only represents one-third of the Book of Mormon, considered by those in the LDS church to be an equal to the Bible.
“It is extremely rare,” said Schlie, 88 — who said she was once was Mitt Romney’s Sunday School teacher at the LDS Church in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., and whose shop is a short walk away from the Mormon Temple in Mesa.
“Someone knew what they were taking,” Schlie said. “The book is well enough known that anyone would know that it’s a collector’s item. Anyone who respected the Book of Mormon and valued it, knows there would be a tight market for it.”
Nothing else was missing from the store, Schlie said.
Schlie and Ken Hankins, her assistant in the 46-year-old crowded shop of shelves covered with stacks of books, said they last saw the book at 7 p.m. last Friday.
Schlie’s copy of the book is not only well known in the Mormon community, she said it is one of the most publicized copies around the world.
In 2005, Schlie was put in a controversial spotlight when she announced that she was going to start selling pages out of the book for $2,500 to $4,000 apiece to raise money to open an ice cream business. Proceeds from the business would go to young women and elders from the LDS church who needed funding for missionary trips, since the LDS church does not fund their missionary trips, she said. At first, Schlie’s actions of selling off the pages mounted and placed in wood frames were viewed as sacrilegious, but she said the LDS church later was OK with her project as church leaders considered it as something to strengthen one’s faith.
Since 2005, Schlie said that she has sold about 50 pages out of the book, and now has just one of the book’s pages left. It is mounted in a wooden frame, a page from Chapter 5.
“I got calls from all over the world from people seeking information about the book, from China and Yugoslavia,” Schlie said. “There’s no way to tell how many are left. It has folklore behind it. They’ve been passed down through the years, put away and in some cases, burned.”
A handful of customers who came in and out of Schlie’s shop on Thursday said that they hoped that someone would return the book and that it should have been in a safety deposit box.
Police say that the book likely was taken by someone who had access to it and knew where it was.
“I’d like to have it back ... so it could finish its mission,” Schlie said.
If anyone has information on the theft of the book, they can call (480) 644-2211.
Contact writer: (480) 898-6533 or msakal@evtrib.com
Bingo6 posted at 9:21 am on Sat, Jun 2, 2012.
Mormonism, like all fairy tales are just that whimsical nonsense, however, where is the outrage over this silly woman for destroying a rare one of a kind book and selling it page by page.
I wonder if she ever had an original copy of the constitution, woud she just sell it also say word for word.
Rare book dealer, I don't think so.I ea
Engaged Voter posted at 4:18 pm on Fri, Jun 1, 2012.
Dear Dwight Rogers,
"Nearly all of these were to correct minor spelling and punctuation errors made by Joseph Smith’s scribes while he rendered the translation to them"
Translation from what langauge (and please don't say Egyptian)?
Also, translated from what (and please don't say magically delivered golden plates)?
It's not the edits that most sane, rational people have a problem with. It's the insane superstitious nonsense that's accepted as fact that is the issue.
Dwight Rogers posted at 2:53 pm on Fri, Jun 1, 2012.
To mesateacher,
The Book of Mormon has undergone about 5,000 changes. Nearly all of these were to correct minor spelling and punctuation errors made by Joseph Smith’s scribes while he rendered the translation to them. Changes were also made to correct typesetting errors introduced by the printer. Virtually all books have these types of errors in the first, or even the first several editions. The critics know this but are not forthcoming about this fact.
In the early 1800s, spelling and grammar were not yet standardized. Joseph dictated the translation to scribes who spelled many words in ways that are nonstandard today. Hundreds of spelling variants had to be corrected in the first edition and in subsequent editions of the
printed text. For example, "ware sorraful" in 1 Nephi 7:20 was changed to "were sorrowful." Likewise, we should not be outraged to find Nephi writing on "plates" today when Joseph's scribes had him writing on "plaits" in 1 Nephi 13:23. Hundreds of such changes have been necessary.
The critics are trying to create the impression that the Church has something to hide about the Book of Mormon. The critics often charge that there is a great cover-up about the changes in the text compared to the original Book of Mormon, completely ignoring the fact that anybody can buy reprints of the 1830 edition from LDS bookstores and that LDS scholars freely and openly discuss and write about the nature of these changes. Changes in the text have been discussed in official Church publications like the Ensign magazine and by widely respected, private LDS groups like the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies.
Let us be fair and apply the same standard of judgment to the Bible. Has the Bible undergone any changes as the various editions have been published? Of course it has. Some versions of the Bible read quite differently than others. In part, this is depends on which source manuscripts are used for the translation. There are thousands of source manuscripts to choose from and, on some passages, they read differently one from another. It also depends on the translators choice of words and even his doctrinal inclinations.
It would be quite a task to try and compare the many different versions of the Bible which have been printed. For the moment, let’s limit ourselves to the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible. For example, when the KJV was first published in 1611, the book of Mathew had 43 italicized words in it. I order to make the text more readable in English, translators would add words that were not in the original manuscript. Over the years, the number of italicized words has continued to expand with each edition. The number of italicized words in the KJV Matthew grew from 43 in 1611 to 583 in the 1870 edition. That’s a lot of additions. (P. Marion Simms, The Bible in America, New York; Wilson-Erickson, 1936, p 97)
These 583 added words occurred in the book of Mathew alone. The KJV has undergone over 200,000 wording changes or additions since 1611. If only one version of the Bible, the KJV, has this many wording changes, imagine the variant wordings between different versions. Why so many changes in just one version of the bible? Why so many different versions?
The KJV version of Luke 22:43-44 describes the suffering of the Lord more fully than any other Bible passage. Yet, some versions of the Bible do not include these verses because some ancient manuscripts do not contain them. The Anchor Bible lists the ancient manuscripts which contain these verses and the manuscripts which omit them and adds "The decision to admit them into the text or to omit them from it is not easy: the matter is hotly debated among textual critics today...The external witnesses to the text are almost equally divided." (Joseph A. Fitzmyer, trans. And notes, The Gospel According to Luke (x-xxiv), The Anchor bible, vol 28a, Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, 1985, p. 1443)
Another example of this problem is Mark 16:10-20. This passage is also included in some version of the Bible and omitted by others. Some Bible scholars believe that this passage is a later addition, and was not in the original text, and that it should be omitted. Other Bible scholars disagree and think it should be included.
Juggernaut8000 posted at 2:00 pm on Fri, Jun 1, 2012.
I wasn't just picking on Mormons, all religions are nonsense and it is a shame otherwise rational thinking people still believe in that BS.
Grow up people, it is a fairy tale akin to Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy.
PeacefulCat posted at 11:15 am on Fri, Jun 1, 2012.
This is about theft not religion. it is Not OK to take someone Else's property lies or not.
Rich posted at 12:43 am on Fri, Jun 1, 2012.
In the valley here, they will probably contact me. The question really might be whether the Mesa police have half a handle, or whether they don.t care. or whether the Mesa PD really know already. Stealing, having books like this s what I do. Have a clue? If you don't, well that's why I iive here.I actually know where every proevvanced copy of The Book of Mormon actually is. And I am a published author whose book is on the shelves in Mesa I don't like PD, but would it be published if the stolen book was Naked Lunch. One email and it couldn't be sold. Shame the Mesa police are so lame.
lgem613 posted at 9:15 pm on Thu, May 31, 2012.
Look you guys I am technically a Morman. Have not attended in nearly 20yrs. My dad attends each week. I see your points when it comes to the wacked out version of Mormanism w/the polygamist stuff etc But That is NOT the beliefs of that lady & the church she attends. I personally don't think it matters what religion anyone is. If they believe in God worship him at a church or the privacy of their own home then that is all that matters. Whatever people who believe in God do to worship or show their love & faith for him is good enough. You dont have to attend church to do that. Just like you dont have to lump all Mormans together w/sick people who practice polygamy. I mean I don't go around calling all white people sick twisted murderers like Manson just cause he happens to be white too.
mesateacher posted at 6:59 pm on Thu, May 31, 2012.
Lady, that old copy became worthless when you decided to eviscerate it and sell the pages for money. No book collector would want it.. You ruined it. Or maybe someone knew that an original would confirm the nearly 5000 changes compared to the current edition and didn't want that embarrassing information out there. Or maybe you just lost it in the incredible hoard in your store.
Hieroglyphics42 posted at 5:43 pm on Thu, May 31, 2012.
I applaud you, Juggernaut8000. Burn it indeed. Another blunder for the cult of Mormonism. Such a chameleonesque religion, originating from the church outcast/polygamist/pedophile himself, Joseph Smith. VIVA LA TRUTH.
Engaged Voter posted at 5:36 pm on Thu, May 31, 2012.
"...that was translated by Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints founder Joseph Smith himself..."
Translated?? Oh, you mean from the magically disappearing Golden Plates deilvered by an angel?
The trib should stick to reporting facts, not silly mythology.
Juggernaut8000 posted at 3:00 pm on Thu, May 31, 2012.
Whoever has it, burn it. It's full of lies and fairy tales.