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Show to book turns up in antique shoo diversity acquisitions jjm Thomas Schmid made ":i he termed a "one in a jn find" recently when he i across an incunabulum (a j published before 1501) o -if a regular check of Salt e s City antique shops. J He proprietor of one of iikops casually mentioned he : sine old religious boooks in f :lack," said Mr. Schmid. "I j ad up one printed in Latin ; glanced at a brief German an printed on the flyleaf antained the words 'Venice' j Then I did a double i. An incunabulum? Right e -on Third South?" e "a volume was the second Q jbuhtm to be placed in the n .it Library Rare Books Collection. Still in excellent condition despite its age, the book contains the "Decrees" of Pope Gregory IX, which were of such importance in canon law that between 1450 and 1500 fifty separate editions of this title were published. Most of these rare books belong to the permanent collections of libraries or private parties. Only three other U.S. libraries own copies ot the antique an-tique volume of Gregory's "Decrees." While it is a valuable and welcome addition to the library's rare book collection, the book is not the rarest by any means and is not considered the most valuable. Mr. Schmid stated that there are a number of documents dealing with Western Americana and LDS Church history which are considered more valuabledue to the library's greater interest in these matters. "For example," said Mr. Sch-. mid, "we are much prouder of' having a first edition of the Book of Mormon than of possessing an incunabulum." The price of the book is confidential con-fidential information, but Mr. Schmid says he checked with West Coast booksellers and gave the proprietor of the shop a fair price for the rare find. "The amazing thing was that the book should be in an antique shop like that which didn't even specialize in books," said Mr. Schmid. The volume will be on display in the library's auditorium this fall. |