A new volume of the joseph smith papers project featuring the printers manuscript of the book of mormon was released tuesday by the church historians press, an imprint of the history department of the church of jesus christ of latterday saints. Unless otherwise indicated, individuals may post material from the gospel media portion of this site to another website or on a computer network for their own personal, noncommercial use. The initial book of mormon wordprint studies were carried out by larsen, rencher, and layton. Printing the book of mormon crandall historical printing museum. Grandin building and the original printing of the book of. Restoring the original text of the book of mormon fairmormon.
Church history department releases book of mormon printer. Sign up for email notifications for new videos here. To print the book, grandin used a smith improved printing press, which had first appeared on the market about 1821 and was the most uptodate press available to the small printer of the day. Book of mormon printers manuscript, photos of seer stone. They compared twentyfour book of mormon authors each having at least 1,000 words to each other, and concluded on the basis of three separate statistical tests that these authors were distinct from each other and oliver cowdery, joseph smith, jr. Introductory pages of the book of mormon book of mormon. This is where the contract was signed for the printing of the book of mormon. Replicating the first letterpress edition of the 1830 book of. The doubting mormon might be convinced, after reading brodie, that joseph smith was a complete fraud who perpetrated a hoax on a willing audience, on the other hand, brodies book might be dismissed as the rant of an embittered feminist bent on destroying the reputation of joseph smith, a serial womanizer.
What was it like to print the original book of mormon in 1830. For a small frontier newspaper, printing over 2 million pages in seven months, with more than 1,000 pulls of the press a day, the effort to. The book of mormon is a sacred text of the latter day saint movement, which, according to adherents, contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the american continent from approximately 2200 bc to ad 421. This right can be revoked at any time and for any reason. No portion of this video may be reproduced, reuploaded, or copied. Early on, joseph smith convinced 1 martin harris that together they would make money publishing the book of mormon. Nov 24, 2011 the book of mormon is a sacred text of the latter day saint movement that adherents believe contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the american continent from approximately 2600 bc to. A printing history of the book of mormon 101 the year 2000 marked an important event in the publishing history of the church of jesus christ of latterday saints. Book of mormon evidences in ancient america farnsworth, dewey and edith wood farrnsworth on. When you take off the dust jacket of this book, you will see that the hard cover.
Printing of the book of mormon began later that year. Primary manual 519 this image is to be used for church purposes only. Replicating the first letterpress edition of the 1830 book. Here at the crandall printing museum, we attempted to see what it would be like to print 5,000 copies of the original 1830 book of mormon. One would ink the type and pull the printing lever while the other would put the paper in place on the type, and then lift it off to dry somewhere. Mar 01, 2012 what may interest you is that there are twenty distinct editions of the book of mormon beginning with the first printing in 1830, and culminating with the current edition, first set and printed in 1981. An oldtime printers perspective on printing the original copies of the book of mormon by. He wrote the booklet, miracle on palmyras main street, the year before he died. Jan 03, 2020 the significance of the great and spacious building from lehis dream in the book of mormon ht book of mormon central what did the e.
The book of mormon girl is a story about leaving behind the innocence of childhood belief and embracing the complications and heartbreaks that come to every adult life of faith. The book of mormon large format large type edition 1985 printing not illustrated. One of the interesting things about the book of mormon is what went to the printing press. The earlier loss of 116 pages of the book of mormon manuscript together with rising antagonism in the palmyra area persuaded joseph and his followers to guard the text during printing. Organized in 1830, the church had recently issued february 2000 the one hundred millionth copy of the book of mormon, the volume that has been central to. Book of mormon, earliest text, yale press, edited by royal. We set a full16 pages of the book and then printed all day and here is a video clip of our findings. After one side was printed, the sheet was hung on a line to dry before the other side was printed. Discusses the publication of the first edition of the book of mormon, including the printing process and local reaction to the book. Click here to visit our frequently asked questions about html5. The significance of the great and spacious building from lehis dream in the book of mormon ht book of mormon central what did the e. The book of mormon is a sacred text of the latter day saint movement that adherents believe contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the american continent from approximately 2600 bc to. Miracle on palmyras main street an old time perspective on. One of these sheets, containing sixteen pages, after being folded, stitched, and cut into a booklet, was called a signature.
It was made in a hurry unfortunately but it is still some very interesting stuff. The press on which the book of mormon was printed clearly required two men to operate efficiently, with each doing one of those functions. The incredible story of the first printing of the book of mormon. The authenticity of the english common press used by benjamin franklin was carried on using blueprints from the smithsonian. Olivers doing his best to copy exactly the rough draft. Printing plays critical role in spreading gospel the daily universe. No man knows my history the life of joseph smith the. The first vision joseph smiths prayer in the sacred grove was the first time he tried to pray vocally see joseph smith. Joannas journey through her faith explores a side of the religion that is rarely put on display. It was first published in march 1830 by joseph smith as the book of mormon. Printing of the first book of mormon printing of the book.
A new volume of the joseph smith papers project featuring the printers manuscript of the book of mormon was released august 4 by the church historians. Printing of the first book of mormon printing of the book of mormon, by gary e. Book of mormon printing press hd lds mormon church history. Grandin building and the original printing of the book of mormon.
This book basically represents in one volume the original text to the extent it can be determined. Robin scott jensen relates the story of how the whitmer family preserved the printers manuscript of the book of mormon. A site for dialogue, the posts featured here represent only the opinion and perspective of their respective authors and not that of the mormon press or lds dems community as a whole. Book of mormon printing press meet the mormons shmula. The process of typesetting was very complicated and this video shows how the first book of mormon was. English chinese simplified is a bilingual book for latterday saints in which the two languages are placed next to each other on the same page. In 1830, he stood in a print shop in palmyra and held truth in his hands. Oct 17, 2011 the pages of the book of mormon were large before they were cut and they used to pull them up and down the different levels of the printing shop with pulleys and ropes its amazing to see what they went through back in the day just to print the scriptures.
Grandin acorn printing press that was used to print the first book of mormon. Printers manuscript of the book of mormon is the 11th published volume of the project in. The book of mormon printing miracle its about time. Printing of the first book of mormon printing of the book of mormon. The incredible story of the first printing of the book of. Go behind the scenes to learn how the first letterpress replica of the original 1830 edition of the book of mormon was researched, printed, and bound as historically accurate as possible. The wonderful crandall historical printing museum in provo, utah, undertook in january 20 to reenact the original printing of the book of mormon. The crandall museum has a working copy of the printing press used to print the original 5,000 copies of the book of mormon, and it was on this that they tried to duplicate the original process. Po name written on fr stock photos may not look exactly like the book.
The replica press is found at the crandall printing museum in provo, utah. Rather than go into full detail, ill list each of the. The actual smith single lever press used is in salt lake city. Intellectual reserve inc the grandin printing press that was used to produce the first 5,000 copies of the book of mormon in palmyra, new york, is on display. Book of mormon historic publication site wikipedia. The press used by grandin printed sheets of paper with eight book of mormon pages on each side. Presently, a replica of the press is on display in that room. The manpower, the paper, ink, ink balls and hours of work. Jul 02, 2015 robin scott jensen relates the story of how the whitmer family preserved the printers manuscript of the book of mormon. A new volume of the joseph smith papers project featuring the printers manuscript of the book of mormon was released august 4 by the church historians press, an imprint of the church history department. Joseph smiths prayer in the sacred grove was the first time he tried to pray vocally. Text from original and printers manuscripts, in poetic layout.
The book of mormon, the first broadway musical by matt stone and trey parker the creators of south park. Feb 26, 2017 go behind the scenes to learn how the first letterpress replica of the original 1830 edition of the book of mormon was researched, printed, and bound as historically accurate as possible. This is a video i made for one of megans communications classes at byu. The book of mormon text is unaltered and only arranged so that the reader does not need to go back and forth between two copies of the book of mormon in different.
Finally, an exact duplicate of the famous acorn press from palmyra, new york, that printed the book of mormon was commissioned. Printing the book of mormon crandall historical printing. The publication history of the book of mormon bruce satterfield department of religious education, brigham young university idaho this article appeared in the church news, jan. Jan 17, 2020 beautiful working replica of the original e. The printing press used to print the pages of the book of mormon was located on the third floor of grandins shop. In august 1829, harris signed over the mortgage to grandin, and production of the book of mormon began. An account written by the hand of mormon upon plates taken from the plates of nephi. From the hill cumorah to grandins press in 1820, a boy named joseph smith went into the woods near his home and prayed for christs truth. The book of mormon on broadway official site press. Unfortunately, despite weights sincere desire to build faith in the book of mormon, his claims cannot be sustained by the evidence. Book of mormon printing press hd lds mormon church.
Go behind the printing of the first edition of the book of. This edition is used for both a reader edition and a reference guide with a vast list of edits that have been made over the course of printing of the book of. The pages of the book of mormon were large before they were cut and they used to pull them up and down the different levels of. The original press used by grandin to print the book of mormon, is currently located. Here are some interesting facts about the receiving, translating, and printing of the book of mormon. April 24, 2017 spirituality book of mormon kathy griffiths. No man knows my history the life of joseph smith the mormon. How to use a printing press how to make everything. The book of mormon was first sold in the grandin bookstore in march 1830. Printing of the first book of mormon printing of the book of. The printing of the book of mormon was truly a miracle. Introductory pages of the book of mormon book of mormon central. Miracle on palmyras main street an old time perspective. The gathering of these communities under a big tent marks an early step toward an international community of mormon progressives.
Feb 11, 20 the wonderful crandall historical printing museum in provo, utah, undertook in january 20 to reenact the original printing of the book of mormon. Large print with numerous visuals and explanatory notes. The museum includes the most complete working printing museum in the world. Weight, who died in 2004 at the age of 72, is another case in point.