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SMITH, Joseph (1805-1844), Founder and Prophet, Church of the Latter-Day Saints. The Book of Mormon: An Account written by the Hand of Mormon, upon Plates taken from the Plates of Nephi ... by Joseph Smith ... Author and Proprieter. Palmyra, New York: E.B. Grandin, for the author, 1830.
8o (184 x 116 mm). Titlepage (copyright notice on verso), Preface "To the Reader", signed "The Author" (pp. [iii]-iv), text (pp.[5]-588), extra leaf "The Testimonies of Three Witnesses" (recto) "And Also The Testimony of Eight Witnesses" (verso), final blank. Without the two-page index, issued at a later date. (Foxing and light browning as usual, dampstaining to upper gutter of first five quires). Contemporary sheep, red morocco spine label, spine simply ruled in six compartments, edges lightly speckled blue (rubbed, lower half of front cover repaired, losses to spine head, a few small stains to back cover), but otherwise a sound, unsophisticated copy of a book commonly found in poor condition. Provenance: Warder ?Crefson (ownership inscriptions on front free endpaper and title-page, both dated "12 mo 12th 1831").
FIRST EDITION OF THE BOOK OF MORMON WITH THE EXTRA LEAVES OF TESTIMONIES. The Book of Mormon contains Joseph Smith's translation of the tablets buried in the hill of "Cumorah" near the village of Manchester, New York, revealed to him by the angel Moroni and given to him for translation between 1827 and 1829. This edition was the only one describing Joseph Smith, on the title-page and the preface, as "author" rather than "translator". The work was dictated to Oliver Cowdery, who acted as scribe, and printed by Egbert B. Grandin, proprieter of the Wayne Sentinel after at least two other printers refused to take on the work. The first edition of 5000 copies was finished only two weeks before the formal founding of the Church of Latter-Day Saints on April 6, 1830. This first printing of the Mormon Bible forbade freemasonry and polygamy, but the latter doctrine was altered in subsequent editions. Church 1342; Crawley & Flake, A Mormon Fifty 1; Grolier, American 37; Howes S623; Sabin 83038; Streeter 4:2262.
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FIRST EDITION OF THE BOOK OF MORMON WITH THE EXTRA LEAVES OF TESTIMONIES. The Book of Mormon contains Joseph Smith's translation of the tablets buried in the hill of "Cumorah" near the village of Manchester, New York, revealed to him by the angel Moroni and given to him for translation between 1827 and 1829. This edition was the only one describing Joseph Smith, on the title-page and the preface, as "author" rather than "translator". The work was dictated to Oliver Cowdery, who acted as scribe, and printed by Egbert B. Grandin, proprieter of the Wayne Sentinel after at least two other printers refused to take on the work. The first edition of 5000 copies was finished only two weeks before the formal founding of the Church of Latter-Day Saints on April 6, 1830. This first printing of the Mormon Bible forbade freemasonry and polygamy, but the latter doctrine was altered in subsequent editions. Church 1342; Crawley & Flake, A Mormon Fifty 1; Grolier, American 37; Howes S623; Sabin 83038; Streeter 4:2262.