Once in a while, one comes across a treasure. Richard L. Saunders's The 1920 Edition of the Book of Mormon is so full of careful scholarship and keenly calibrated insights that I found myself not only learning new things on almost every page, but feeling like I had in my hands a model for what thoughtful, thorough, engaging bibliographic scholarship looks like. While writing book reviews is often an act of service to the Academy, this review turned out to be one where I found myself feeling more like I was the one being served. I learned from this book, but more importantly, I was inspired by its scholarly approach and integrity.
Books taking as their subject a single book have become something of a vogue, and thus almost a cottage industry in the last decade. These books on books fall roughly into two categories: cultural or bibliographic histories. Notable...
