By Curt Bench IN NEARLY FORTY years as an LDS bookseller, I have met or done business with people along the entire Mormon spectrum, from general authorities to fundamentalist Mormons, and with pretty much every type of Mormon or anti-Mormon in between. In the early 1980s, I once counted Mark W. Hofmann as not only …
Tag: Curt Bench
Adventures of a Mormon Bookseller: Title Fights!
By Curt Bench During my nearly four decades in the LDS book business, I’ve seen a lot of interesting (and not-so-interesting) books. Sometimes the title of the book can be just as fascinating as the content (sometimes even more so). Most book titles are made short, simple, and utilitarian in order to fit on the …
“Thy Virgin Paths”
By Curt Bench Mormon bookselling provides many fun moments that provide my staff and me with life-long smiles. Whereas my June 2012 column might very well have been titled “People in LDS Bookstores Say the Darndest Things,” this one could easily be called, “Mormons Ask for the Darndest Titles.” Over the years, often by phone …
Book Exchanges
By Curt Bench During my nearly four decades in the book business, I’ve come across a lot of things that have made me smile—or at least scratch my head at the sometimes not-so-eloquent ways we booksellers and buyers communicate. Here are a few favorites, each of them absolutely true. You can’t make up stuff …
Putting His Money Where His Mouth Is
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Making a Mark on History
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Critical Condition
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“Unscrupulous or Misguided Adventurers”
In this regular Cornucopia column, Curt Bench, owner and operator of Benchmark Books (www.benchmarkbooks.com), a specialty bookstore in Salt Lake City that focuses primarily on used and rare Mormon books, tells stories—both humorous and appalling—from his 35-plus years in the LDS book business. The banner headline in the January 1894 Salt Lake Herald advertisement …