When I was a child, my parents were kind enough to acquire some large illustrated scripture books published by a company called Promised Land Publications. There was a set called “Illustrated Stories From the Book of Mormon,” a set titled “Illustrated Stories About the New Testament” and a set titled “Illustrated Stories From Church History.” Each set was 16 volumes. These were large books with brightly colored paintings.
The New Testament books came with 16 cassette tapes that were titled “Dramatized Stories of the New Testament.”
At that early age, reading those books and listening to those tapes had a powerful influence on my knowledge of scripture stories and helped me gain a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. There was a period of time where I would fall asleep every night while listening to those tapes.
I specifically remember feeling awe when reading about the way Jesus was treated, his crucifixion and his resurrection, as I read through the New Testament stories. I can also remember loving the stories about Paul the Apostle, his conversion story and his missionary travels (stories that were recounted on the cassettes). I can still remember listening to the story of how Paul testified in chains before King Agrippa and King Agrippa stating: “Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian” and the story of how Paul comforted his fellow shipmates in a storm, telling them ahead of time that the ship would be lost but that their lives would be spared.
Googling around, I am finding that used versions of these books and cassettes are available for online auction. It appears they are out of print. These are books and tapes from back in the 1970s.
I guess I’m wondering what happened to Promised Land Publications and why these dramatized stories aren’t available on compact disc or as mp3s.
Did anyone else grow up reading these books or listening to these cassettes?
1Julie M. Smith on Mar 24, 2007 at 9:58 am:
I think they were out of print for a long time and then a few years ago, a new company brought them back out–most of the same pictures but this time in 8 volumes with fancy covers. I don’t think they did very well–I came across them on a super-clearance table at a Barnes and Noble in Bountiful and bought them for 80% off. You occasionally see them on ebay (link).
2DKL on Mar 24, 2007 at 1:50 pm:
Growing up, my family had the full set also. I don’t know what happened to the set or the company, but my wife and I bought a set of them on eBay.
3danithew on Mar 24, 2007 at 4:04 pm:
Julie, it’s cool to see you over here. Thanks for dropping by.
It’s interesting that you mention them being on a super-clearance sale at Barnes and Noble. I have a vague memory of seeing a bunch of Book of Mormon sets on sale in a Utah grocery store.
I’m curious what company it was that tried to revive the sale of these books. I’m also curious if they tried selling the recordings again.
It would be fun to be able to download mp3s of those recordings onto an iPod and listen to them again. It’s been so many years but just thinking about listening to those tapes as a kid brings back pleasant memories.
4onelowerlight on Mar 24, 2007 at 6:19 pm:
I was just at Pioneer Book in downtown Provo a few hours ago, and I saw what looked like a complete set of these books at the checkout desk. I also remember seeing a few of them in a missionary apartment when I was a missionary in California.
5danithew on Mar 24, 2007 at 7:18 pm:
It looks like the company that obtained rights to publish and sell these series was called Heritage Media.
Although it’s clear they released the books, I’m not finding any signs that they re-published the recordings. I was hoping they would have released them on compact discs.