PHOENIX — Retired bookstore owner Helen Schlie can see a higher purpose in her decision to sell her 1830 first-edition Book of Mormon one page at a time.

Schlie said she feels it will be more of a "missionary tool" if broken apart rather than going to a single collector since the framed pages — priced at $2,500 to $4,500 each — can be handed down generation to generation.

"This way, it will touch hundreds of lives and span generations of time," said Schlie, who is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "The book has now started a whole new missionary career."

Her decision has garnered mixed reviews from the church, fellow LDS book dealers and librarians who think such a rare piece of church history is better left whole.

Some librarians were appalled when they learned of Schlie's intentions, said Haybron Adams, a retired librarian who worked in the special collections division at Brigham Young University and who authenticated Schlie's book. "But librarians have a different look at books."

The Book of Mormon is the story of a Hebrew family who migrated from Jerusalem to the New World and tells of a visit to their descendants by Jesus Christ after his resurrection. It was first published in 1830 by Joseph Smith, founder of the LDS Church, after he said an angel named Moroni guided him to gold tablets from which he translated the book.

The book Schlie owns is one of the first 5,000 printed. Book dealers say hundreds of complete works are likely left, although there is no way to tell for sure.

Schlie said she came across her original copy working as a book dealer in Mesa, Ariz., where she owned a book store for 25 years.

Though she can't remember the name of the man she bought it from or exactly when, she had it authenticated by two collectors, including Adams.

Adams said he and other librarians who specialize in rare books looked at Schlie's copy about three years ago and had no doubt it was a first edition.

And, he said, Schlie was upfront about her intentions to split it apart to sell — something he and the other librarians wished she wouldn't have done.

Schlie said she offered it first to the church. "But they said 'No, go ahead and do this project because it will touch more lives over the long run,' " Schlie said from her home in Gold Canyon, east of Phoenix. "And the condition the book was in, it could not be used for study. It was too fragile."

She said shied away from selling her complete copy to a collector because she didn't want it hidden under glass or touched only by scholars with white gloves.

"Hundreds of people have touched and felt the spirit of this book already," Schlie said. "I wanted it to continue its usefulness."