(MORMONS) The Book of Mormon An Account Written by the Hand

Sale 2455 - Lot 167

Price Realized: $ 37,500

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 10,000 - $ 15,000

FIRST EDITION (MORMONS.) The Book of Mormon: An Account Written by the Hand of Mormon, upon Plates Taken from the Plates of Nephi. 588, [2] pages. 8vo, publisher's calf, backstrip blind-tooled in seven double bands, original black leather spine label blind-stamped "Book of Mormon," worn, backstrip ends coming detached, front joint splitting; lacking title page, leaf 12:8, and free endpapers, inked "1848" on first page, leaf 26:8 and 29:4 torn with loss of text, foxing, minor dampstaining. Palmyra, NY: E.B. Grandin, 1830

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first edition of the scripture of the mormon church, released just days before the official establishment of the church on 6 April 1830. This was the only edition listing Joseph Smith as the "author and proprietor" rather than as the translator, and the only edition with his 2-page preface. This copy has the 2 pages of witness testimony at the end, but not the index pages which were inserted in later copies. The first edition was printed with numerous variants; Crawley concludes that "very few copies of the book exist which are entirely identical." This copy includes the uncorrected sheets for 7 of the 41 variants noted in Jenson: page 81 reads "Holy one"; page 83 reads "condescentions"; page 91 reads "carcases"; page 144 reads "obout"; page 212 is misnumbered as "122"; page 507 reads "which is in my name?"; page 521 reads "rum-derers" for "murderers." See Janet Jenson, "Variations between Copies of the First Edition of the Book of Mormon," BYU Studies 13 (Winter 73), 214-222. Crawley 1; Flake 595; Grolier Hundred 37; Howes S623; Sabin 83038; Streeter sale IV:2262. Provenance: purchased at a yard sale in Springfield, OH circa 1975, and given to the mother-in-law of the consignor.