Nov 03, 2025 Commerce and Culture: A Booksellers’ Panel

Booksellers do more than sell books—they preserve history, connect readers with rare finds, and keep the literary marketplace alive.

“The Peddler” from Das Ständebuch (Book of Trades)
By Jost Amman & Hans Sachs
New York: Dover Publications, 1973
PT1762 E8 1973

Join us on Friday, November 21 from 6:00-8:00 pm in the Gould Auditorium for a night of Commerce & Culture. In partnership with the J. Willard Marriott Library and the Utah Bibliographical Society, we bring together some of our most distinguished local booksellers, publishers, and scholars for a conversation on the past, present and future of the book trade. 

Commerce & Culture: A Booksellers Panel will consider how booksellers have historically navigated issues of rarity, value, and demand—and how those same questions continue to resonate today. Books have always been more than vessels of knowledge. They are artifacts of commerce and culture, shaped by market forces, entrepreneurial ambition and changing patterns of readership. From Renaissance stalls to twenty-first-century book fairs, booksellers and publishers have served as essential intermediaries—preserving knowledge, guiding collectors and shaping the cultural and economic value of books. Panelists will share insights into their profession, reflecting on the enduring challenges of the trade while discussing the ongoing role of booksellers in connecting people to the written word. 

MEET THE BOOKSELLERS

Chris Bench | Benchmark Books
Chris Bench grew up surrounded by books, learning the trade from his father, Curt Bench, whose passion for collecting and selling shaped his own path. After earning his degree from Utah State University, where he worked in the university’s Special Collections and gained early experience at Deseret Book in Logan, Chris joined Benchmark Books full-time in 2001. Founded in 1987 by Curt Bench following his fourteen-year career at Deseret Book, Benchmark is an independent Salt Lake City bookstore specializing in new, used, and rare Mormon materials, as well as Utah history, Western Americana and religious studies. Following Curt’s passing in 2021, Chris, together with longtime colleague Bryan Buchanan, has continued the store’s legacy of scholarship and community engagement, maintaining Benchmark’s reputation as a trusted resource for collectors, historians and readers of the American West and Mormon studies. Chris and his wife Wendi have two children. As the primary buyer, he loves to see what people have in their collections and really enjoys interacting with customers and authors. 

Glenda Cotter | University of Utah Press
Glenda Cotter has dedicated more than three decades to the University of Utah Press, where she currently serves as director. After earning her MA in Art History from the University of Utah in 1990, she joined the Press as an editorial assistant and steadily advanced through the ranks—assistant editor, managing editor and, since 2010, director. Throughout her tenure, Cotter has navigated the evolving landscape of academic publishing, guiding the Press through technological shifts and new modes of scholarly communication. She is deeply committed to supporting authors whose research expands knowledge, fosters dialogue and enriches understanding of the American West and the broader world. Under her leadership, the University of Utah Press continues to champion works of enduring intellectual value, reflecting a balance of rigorous scholarship, creative inquiry and a spirit of curiosity that defines the university’s publishing mission. 

Brad Farmer | Gibbs-Smith Publishing
Over his twenty years at Gibbs Smith, Brad Farmer has led the company through significant disruption and opportunity including the introduction of digital products, the rise of Amazon and significant consolidation of the customer base. Throughout this period, he focused the company on independence and resilience, culminating in the transition to 100% employee ownership in 2022. He led the effort to become the second U.S.-based publisher to become a certified B Corp, enshrining the company’s long held commitment to benefit employees, our community and the planet. Continuing his commitment to positive change, Brad has served on the board of PubWest, a publishing trade association, and the Davis Arts Council and is a founding member of The Publishers Cooperative. He is a frequent speaker at publishing conferences and training events. He received his MAcc at Brigham Young University and certificate in Social Entrepreneurship from the London School of Economics.  

Anne Holman | King’s English Bookstore
A lifelong reader and passionate advocate for independent bookstores, Anne Holman has spent the past twenty-five years as a bookseller and co-owner of The King’s English Bookshop, a beloved Salt Lake City institution. Like many small business owners, she has worn countless hats: managing operations, supporting staff, and navigating the ever-changing economics of bookselling. Her greatest joy remains connecting readers with the right book, regardless of age or interest. Anne believes deeply in the transformative power of reading and the importance of book ownership in sustaining an informed, democratic society. As she often says, “Reading and owning books of one’s own is the key to building a democracy.” Her dedication to fostering literary community and championing readers continues to define both her work and the spirit of The King’s English.  

Barbara Jones Brown | Signature Books
Barbara Jones Brown is the director of Signature Books, an independent publisher based in Salt Lake City renowned for its works on Western and Mormon history since its founding in 1981. A historian and author, she co-wrote Vengeance Is Mine: The Mountain Meadows Massacre and Its Aftermath (Oxford University Press, 2023), which received multiple honors, including the Utah Historical Society’s Juanita Brooks Best Book Award and the Utah Humanities Council’s Award for Best General Nonfiction. Brown holds a master’s degree in American history from the University of Utah and a bachelor’s degree in journalism and English from Brigham Young University. Combining scholarly rigor with editorial expertise, she is dedicated to amplifying diverse voices and advancing the public understanding of Utah and Mormon history through thoughtful, evidence-based publishing and storytelling.  

Ken Sanders | Ken Sanders Rare Books
Ken Sanders has been a central figure in Utah’s rare book community since the 1970s. After co-owning The Cosmic Aeroplane (1975–1981), he opened Ken Sanders Rare Books in 1997 and founded Dream Garden Press in 1980. A lifelong bibliophile, Sanders’ interests evolved from underground comix to Western history, Mormonism, and literature. A member of the ABAA and former Security Chair on its Board of Governors, he is known for helping bring book thieves to justice. Beyond bookselling, Sanders has been a tireless promoter of the arts, hosting hundreds of literary and art events and receiving the Salt Lake City Mayor’s Award for Contributions to the Arts (2005). His work has been featured in major publications and media, including Antiques Roadshow and Netflix’s Murder Among the Mormons. He continues to buy, sell and publish books through his Salt Lake City shop. 

Kent Tschanz | Tschanz Rare Books
Kent Tschanz is a Salt Lake City–based antiquarian bookseller with more than twenty years of experience in Utah’s rare book trade. After working at Sam Weller’s (1996–2005) and Ken Sanders Rare Books (2005–2016), he founded Tschanz Rare Books with his wife, Katie, in 2016. A member of the ABAA, ILAB, and RMABA—where he currently serves as president—Tschanz regularly exhibits at western book fairs and publishes catalogues of new arrivals. He has served on the boards of the Utah Westerners, the Friends of the J. Willard Marriott Library, the ABAA and founded the Utah Bibliographical Society in 2021. His professional highlights include presentations at the Collecting Yellowstone and Mormon History Association conferences and co-curating the Latter-day Gamers exhibition at BYU’s Harold B. Lee Library. His firm specializes in Western Americana, particularly Utah, Mormonism, and the Interior West.

Tony Weller | Weller Book Works
Tony Weller is a third-generation bookseller and co-owner, with Catherine Weller, of Weller Book Works, formerly Sam Weller’s Zion Bookstore, founded in 1929. He began working in the family business at age ten and has spent decades evaluating, buying and selling book collections. A member of the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America since 1996, Tony also conducts professional appraisals and manages the store’s Rare Books Department. He has served as president of the Downtown Merchants Association and held board positions with the Downtown Alliance, Chamber of Commerce and Utah Health Policy Project. A Zen Buddhist and philosophical anarchist, Tony approaches bookselling as both art and inquiry—connecting the cultural past with contemporary readers. Known for his wide-ranging knowledge, curiosity and interpretive approach, Tony reads diversely, values intuition over expertise, and continues his family’s legacy of bookselling in Salt Lake City. 

The evening will open with a keynote presentation by Chelsea Reutcke, Gordon B. Hinckley Postdoctoral Fellow in British Studies in the Department of History at the University of Utah, whose research explores the intersections of commerce, culture, and the circulation of knowledge in the early modern book trade in England.

Chelsea Reutcke | Department of History, University of Utah
Chelsea Reutcke received her PhD in history from the University of St Andrews in Scotland. She is the Gordon B. Hinckley Postdoctoral Fellow in British Studies in History at the University of Utah and the assistant editor for the Journal of British Studies. Her work focuses on the intersection of print, politics, and religion in early modern Britain. Her first book, Catholic Print Networks in Restoration London, 1660-1688: The Cross-Confessional World of Later Stuart Print Culture is out in January 2026 from Boydell & Brewer. Focusing on the lived experience of printers, booksellers, and readers, the book challenges the notion of Catholic isolation in Protestant England. It reveals how Catholic print culture was embedded in the broader English print economy and public sphere, often sharing tools, spaces, and strategies with dissenting and loyalist traditions and offers a new framework for understanding religious identity, toleration, and the mechanics of clandestine publishing.

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Following the presentation and panel, we invite you to join us on Level 4 for a gallery stroll of the latest Special Collections exhibition.

The Business of Books offers a comprehensive exploration of the production and trade of books from the Renaissance through the Industrial Revolution. The exhibition examines the intricate economic networks that underpinned the book industry and foregrounds the physical labor involved in papermaking, printing, binding, and design.  

To learn more about The Business of Books, visit the Special Collections Exhibition Gallery on Level 4 of the Marriott Library. 

(This exhibition is free and open to the public)