LDS scripture to be sold page by page

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

Schlie has framed each page in a double-sided, purple heart-wood frame and affixed a 14-karat gold Moroni angel on each side. The signatures of both authenticators also accompany each page, she said.

Curt Bench, owner of Benchmark Books in Salt Lake City, which specializes in LDS literature, said there's a general sentiment among book dealers that breaking up a complete work is "frowned upon."

"I won't pass personal judgment on anybody," he said, "but there are some people that would have a problem with that."

Bench said that he, too, has sold pages from a first-edition Book of Mormon. However, he said those pages were taken only from books that were incomplete.

Bench said he sold the most desired pages — like the title page and witness page — for $2,000 five years ago.

While book dealers have questioned whether Schlie's price is too high, they all concede a collector's item is worth whatever a collector will pay.

Depending on the condition, the average going rate for a complete first-edition book is somewhere between $50,000 and $75,000, Bench said.

If each of Schlie's pages sold for her minimum asking price of $2,500, all 290 pages would bring in $725,000.

Schlie said she has sold "quite a few" through eBay and on her personal Web site.

"One man reserved seven pages — one for of each of his children," she said.

The church shied away from criticizing Schlie for breaking apart the scripture.

"Issues like these rest on our members' sense of propriety and conscience," said Mike Otterson, an LDS Church spokesman in Utah.