The Golden Legacy: A Folk History of J. Golden Kimball
Provo: Brigham Young University Press, 1973. First edition. Hardcover/dust jacket. 155pp. Minor soiling to dust jacket as well as a small moisture mark at top of rear panel, small triangular chip at bottom of front panel; 10 or so scattered paragraphs with brackets or underlining in pen.
Given Kimball's controversial personality, it is only fitting that this collection of tales about him underwent a checkered publication. On May 14, 1973, Leonard Arrington noted in his journal, "We learned last week that The Golden Legacy by Tom Cheney of BYU, published last month by the BYU Press, has been 'withdrawn for corrections.'" The first edition included several stories about a shared incontinence problem (due to prostate troubles) plaguing Kimball and Heber J. Grant. According to Arrington, Robert Thomas, academic vice president at BYU, had initiated the purge as he was "certain that they would be offensive to General Authorities and members of the Church in general." In some cases, the title page was removed and the BYU Press logo on both dust jacket and book were obliterated. Unaltered copies (with title page intact and nothing done to the BYU Press logo) are thus truly modern rarities. Arrington was told that, of the 10,000 copies printed, 9,800 had been shredded. A revised edition, with two offending stories removed and a new story added, was published a year later by Peregrine Smith. Condition: Very good. Item #7822
Price: $950.00