Moon's Rare Books

August 30th, 2025

Every rare book nerd knows and is jealous of Mr. Moon, owner of Moon's Rare Books in Utah. You may recognize him from his social media posts showing off his collection of first edition fantasy novels, historical books with famous provenance, and iconic movie props. The floors of the shop are lined with imported French cobblestone dating back to Napoleon, the walls are adorned with Victorian-style shop fronts guarding collection treasures, and vitrines are filled with the rarest pieces in the collection that are cycled every 3-4 weeks according to an employee I spoke with. Unfortunately, Mr. Moon was not in that day but the employees were very well-informed and incredibly friendly and helpful. After I talked one woman's ear off about how long I have been a huge fan, she said he would have loved to show me more in his vault. Once a month, he does provide private tours of the collection which I will absolutely do for my future bachelorette party.

Fig.1 - The Bookshop.

A lovely staff member showed me some of the iconic pieces on display, including a beautifully adorned coal furnace from the Rockefeller's, an original and functional cash register from Macy's, Luna Lovegood and Draco Malfoy's cloaks from the final Harry Potter movie, and a vest worn by Bilbo Baggins in a Hobbit film. The bookstore prides itself on being a museum that is also technically a bookstore. We were first greeted with a display of first and second editions of the Lord of the Rings, Tolkein's own pipe, and a Tolkein-family owned copy of Lord of the Rings. This was my boyfriend's favorite. A second display contained Jane Austen's handwriting, the first illustrated edition of Pride and Prejudice, and the first edition set of Emma. This was my mom's favorite. A third display held Marie Antionette's prayer book, Queen Elizabeth's bible, Harry Houdini's oldest magic book, a French almanack owned by Napoleon, and a religious book owned by George Washington. This was my favorite.

Fig.2 - Display of Tolkein artifacts.

The Victorian storefronts were themed, children's books, history, LDS church history, bibles, and movie props. The children's book room contained Charles Dicken's writing desk, first editions of The Lorax, Charlotte's Web, and Madeline, and the "some pig" web from the Charlotte's Web movie. The history room had a "witness" pillar from Independence Hall during the time of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Queen Victoria's chemise, a letter from Winston Churchill, and a Christmas card inscribed by Princess Diana. The LDS room had haunting death masks of Joseph and Hyrum Smith and a 19th century printing press. The bible room was filled with torahs and bibles that spanned centuries and were massive in size, as well as large medieval choral books. Last but not least, the movie prop room was filled to the brim with iconic ephemera such as a Quidditch robe signed by Harry Potter actors, an Ewok head from The Return of the Jedi, Jack's ticket to the Titanic, a minature from the Night at the Museum (one of my favorite movies), Katniss' outfir and bow and arrow from the Hunger Games, walkie talkies from Jurassic Park, a clapperboard from the Lord of the Rings, and a signed poster from Thor.

Fig.3 - Children's Literature Room.
Fig.4 - History Room.
Fig.5 - LDS room.

Now it was time to hunt for a book of my own. I had saved for a few months for this occasion, but paying for the book was not the hard part. With hundreds of books for sale, new and old, the options were endless. All book prices were written in pencil on the front flyleaf so it was also a little more difficult to find a book within budget as many books were locked behind cases. Sections of Dracula, Frankenstein, and Dante caught my eye, but everytime I asked an employee to pull one from the case they were well over $1,000. I had plans after my trip to the shop, so I was feeling very rushed. I only had an hour to pick out the second rare book in my collection. I was sweating. There were simply too many fascinating options.

Fig.6 - Books for Sale.

I had found an older copy of Catch-22 that caught my eye, but it didn't feel right. I was really hoping for a book dating before the 19th century. Tucked on the bottom shelf in between children's paperbooks, I found a beautiful leather-bound poetry book published in Edinburgh in 1779 with three copper engravings. And she was well within my budget! I did kinda feel bad that I had asked employees to unlock so many books and I ended up purchasing a book that was not behind lock-and-key. There are no inscriptions or bookplates so I can't identify any previous owners, but I was glowing after making the purchase.

Fig.7 - My Poetry Book.
Fig.8 - Engraving.
Fig.9 - Engraving.

My books is a three volume set of The Poetical Works of Dr. John Donne, Dean of St. Paul's, London. I believe this book to have originally been three seperate volumes that have later been bound together in brown sheepskin leather. What was fascinating about the binding is that the spine was reinforced with pages from another book.

Fig.10 - Rebound Spine.

I could not identify any watermarks within the pages, but both flyleaves had an intricate crest watermark with lettering I have yet to makeout.

Fig.11 - Crest Watermarks.

Two rare books down, hundreds to go.