Donated book is a jewel — really

Some books become valuable with age, but a particular book recently donated to the Salt Lake City Library turned out to be a real jewel.

When volunteers were preparing for a book sale for the Friends of the City Library organization several months ago, they came upon a surprising book — but the mystery was not written on the pages, it was in the pages.

As a volunteer picked up "Holy Siege," by Kenneth A. Briggs, they noticed the book rattled. Inside was a homemade book safe. Pages were hollowed out to hold some family's treasure of antique jewelry.

The library would like to return the jewelry to its original owner. The problem is finding the owner.

A recent TV story on the book yielded a single telephone call to the library, but it wasn't the owner, according to Andrew Shaw, assistant manager of community affairs for the library.

He said the library hasn't been actively publicizing the discovery of late, because of the holidays, but still wants to find who the book and its contents belong to.

"They look more like family heirlooms than something of real value," he said.

Part of the book's contents include a locket with a picture in it and a monogram. He said there are a number of other items too, but he can't elaborate more, so the true owner can claim the book by describing its contents.

"It looks like someone took some time on it," Shaw said, describing how the hollowed-out portion of the book looks. Someone might have used some sort of kit to create it in the book.

Shaw said the things found in donated books are usually fun, little items — family photographs, bookmarks, homework, etc. — but nothing like this latest find has some up before in the recollections of current library workers.

"You just find these little things, offering a glimpse into someone's life."

What if no one claims the family heirlooms?

"I'm not really sure," Shaw said, indicating library officials haven't addressed that yet.

If you believe the jewels belong to you, contact the Salt Lake City Library Community Affairs Department at 524-8219. Callers will be asked to describe the missing pieces of jewelry.

• Volunteers from the Friends of the City Library group donate hundreds of hours each year sorting, organizing, shelving and hosting used book sales, where the hollowed-out book was found. They also sort used books available for sale year-round at the Library's store.

Funds generated by the sales and the store are donated back to the City Library System. The library received about $80,000 in Friends donations during 2007.

More information on the group is available by calling 524-8200.

---

E-mail: lynn@desnews.com