While we were in Palmyra last month, we were able to visit the place where the Book of Mormon was published: the E.B. Grandin Building. Much of the building is original; the LDS Church has built a visitors' center around it so you can walk freely in and out of the fairly narrow original building. The building is set up the way it might have been back in 1830 when the Book of Mormon was published there. The missionaries give tours that explain how they printed books back then and I found it extremely interesting.
Here are pictures of E.B. Grandin and his wife not long before he died at the young age of 39. He was actually a few months younger than Joseph Smith and died the year after Joseph Smith. E.B. Grandin wanted to make a name for himself in the world so he married a woman with connections and money. He purchased his printing business in his early 20's but wasn't able to get a lot of contracts. The Book of Mormon was his biggest contract: 5000 copies for $3000. He initially refused to print it, thinking that he didn't want his name associated with it, but he accepted the second time he was asked because his friends told him it would just be another business deal. He was paid in gold by Martin Harris who sold part of his farm to pay for it. His name is now well-known among the many people who come to visit this building every year.
This room is the bookselling portion of E.B. Grandin's business. The books generally had white paper covers unless people were willing to spend more for leather covers.
This was the office in the back room of the first floor. This is where Grandin would have written up his contracts.
This is a facsimile of a few pages of the manuscript of the Book of Mormon, written in Oliver Cowdery's hand while Joseph Smith translated:
This is the actual printing press. They printed 16 pages at a time on one large sheet. The layout was very complicated so that they could fold the pages in order, front and back.
After they printed each page, they would hang them up to dry:
After the pages were all printed, they would fold them in order. Then they would cut the pages so they were separated appropriately. After the pages were put together, they would be sewn together:
After the leather cover was put on the book (after it had been pressed and cardboard sewn on), then the title of the book was hand-stamped on the spine of the book. If you look closely at any first edition copies, you may see that one of the letters is not in exactly the right place.
Here are pictures of E.B. Grandin and his wife not long before he died at the young age of 39. He was actually a few months younger than Joseph Smith and died the year after Joseph Smith. E.B. Grandin wanted to make a name for himself in the world so he married a woman with connections and money. He purchased his printing business in his early 20's but wasn't able to get a lot of contracts. The Book of Mormon was his biggest contract: 5000 copies for $3000. He initially refused to print it, thinking that he didn't want his name associated with it, but he accepted the second time he was asked because his friends told him it would just be another business deal. He was paid in gold by Martin Harris who sold part of his farm to pay for it. His name is now well-known among the many people who come to visit this building every year.
This room is the bookselling portion of E.B. Grandin's business. The books generally had white paper covers unless people were willing to spend more for leather covers.
This was the office in the back room of the first floor. This is where Grandin would have written up his contracts.
This is the actual printing press. They printed 16 pages at a time on one large sheet. The layout was very complicated so that they could fold the pages in order, front and back.
After they printed each page, they would hang them up to dry:
After the leather cover was put on the book (after it had been pressed and cardboard sewn on), then the title of the book was hand-stamped on the spine of the book. If you look closely at any first edition copies, you may see that one of the letters is not in exactly the right place.
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