Tucked inside the Shops at Riverwoods in Provo sits a place where history isn’t just read — it’s held. Moon’s Rare Books, founded by collector Reid Moon, has become a destination for history lovers, scholars, and tourists from around the world.
Part bookstore, part museum, and all wonder, Moon’s shop houses more than 5,000 rare books and artifacts, from Alexander Hamilton’s law journal to a letter written aboard the Titanic. Visitors travel from every continent to see relics that make the past tangible — and personal.
A collector who never gets stumped
Moon has a game he plays with visitors: name any person, place, or event since the printing press — and he’ll find something in his collection tied to it.
He’s never lost.
When a reporter challenged him with “Duke Snider,” the Hall of Fame baseball legend, Moon disappeared into his vault and returned with a baseball signed by Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, and — to his surprise — Duke Snider himself.
“That’s zero degrees of separation,” Moon said with a grin.
A bookstore that became a global destination
Moon calls his shop “a bookstore disguised as a museum, or a museum disguised as a bookstore.” Half the items aren’t for sale, but visitors can browse and handle treasures few museums would dare to display.
After graduating from Brigham Young University, Moon spent years in Dallas running a small Latter-day Saint bookstore before turning his passion for rare finds into a career. In 2015, he relocated to Provo, where Moon’s Rare Books quickly became a bucket-list stop for book lovers — drawing about 75,000 visitors a year.
“Most people come just to look,” he said. “But everyone finds something that speaks to them.”
A private museum of world history
The treasures lining the shelves could rival those in the Smithsonian or British Museum. Among them:
- A King James Bible owned by King James himself.
- Hyrum Smith’s personal copy of the Book of Mormon.
- Neil Armstrong’s handwritten notes, Abraham Lincoln’s letters, and J.R.R. Tolkien’s doodles.
- The desk where Charles Dickens wrote “A Tale of Two Cities.”
- A first edition of “Dracula” signed by Bram Stoker.
- Orville Wright’s pilot license, Princess Diana’s Christmas card, and even Charles Manson’s fingerprint card.
Each item, Moon says, is a story frozen in time. “It’s not about how old it is or what it’s worth,” he explained. “It’s about how it speaks to us in the present.”
The treasure hunter who never stops
Now 65, Moon insists he’ll never retire. Since July, he’s traveled to Tokyo, South America, and the U.K. — twice — in search of new artifacts. “If I retired, I’d still do what I’m doing,” he said. “You get better with age in this business.”
Visitors often cry when he places a first edition of their favorite book in their hands. “When I bring out a Jane Austen for an Austen fan, it just brings tears to their eyes,” he said. “History will talk to you — if you listen.”
And that’s exactly what Moon’s Rare Books invites the world to do: listen to the voices of the past, alive and well in the heart of Provo.
