Aug 18, 2025 The Book [of Mormon] as Material Object

The Rare Books Department is excited to welcome U back to campus! Want to make your semester 110% more interesting? (Okay, that’s not an official statistic, but it feels true.) Book a visit to our Special Collections reading room, or convince your professor to bring your class in for a custom-curated show-and-tell of historical treasures matched to your course.

Last spring, Chelsea Reutcke’s Britain and the Book (HIST3910) did just that. For their first essay, students each chose an item from Special Collections—not to read for its plot or argument, but to study as an artifact. They examined paper and parchment, tested the personality of inks and typefaces, admired decorations and bindings, and decoded marginalia. This was book study in the spirit of an archaeologist at a dig site: measuring, noting, and interpreting the physical evidence to understand the life of the object.

Our own Rare Books Assistant, Alexander Jolley, joined in on the fun, diving into a first edition of the Book of Mormon. What he discovered might surprise you. Read on to see what the pages revealed.

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“This particular book was donated by the estate of John A. Widtsoe, fromer University of Utah President and a prominent member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who was in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles until he died in 1952. Widtsoe was responsible for donating a large amount of the Mormonalia that is housed in the Rare Book Department at the Marriott Library. This book is one of five first editions of the Book of Mormon that the department holds. [See B.H. Roberts’ annotated copy here].

The book was printed at the Grandin Press in Palmyra, New York in an initial print run of 5,000 copies, with an upfront cost of $3,000. This book was likely produced as cheaply as possible given the historical circumstances surrounding it, which is evident in the cheap paper quality. The lack of engraved images also points to this fact. About seven hundred copies are estimated to exist still, though this is disputed somewhat. The press used to create the text was the Smith Press (no relation to Joseph Smith). 

The Book of Mormon: An Account Written by the Hand of Mormon, upon the Plates Taken from the Plates of Nephi
Palmyra, New York: E.B. Grandin, 1830
BX 8623 1830

Physical Description 

Overall, it is a very good copy, with some acceptable wear. The book measures about 5.5 inches in width, 8.25 inches in length, and 1.25 inches in thickness. The book is in octavo format. Interestingly, the groupings do not align with the expected nomenclature. Each form starts with 1, then the next page is 1*, then in 16 pages to the next form comes 2, and 2*, and so on. The format of A2r or B6v is not present.  

The binding is plain brown calf leather, with a title stamp in black Morocco. The title text and spine are gilt in minimal gold. Both boards are firmly attached to the spine, with light wear. The bottom corners and edges have suffered the most damage. There is visible crumbling that reveals the outside leather to be a thin outer layer on top of paper boards. The head of the spine has lost some material due to repeated pulls of the book off a shelf. There is evidence of a missing library sticker near the tail of the spine, as the leather is rubbed. The covers have scratches and discoloration throughout.  

The outside edges of the text block have green-speckled paint for decoration, but some discoloration is present. The book contains pastedowns on the front and back covers. The front pastedown is separated slightly in the bottom left corner, exposing the plain board. The back pastedown has fared much better but has started peeling on the edges. The back has four flyleaves, while the front only has two. 

Description of Text 

The text block includes over six hundred pages and is made of “foolscap” paper. This term refers to the size of the paper itself, but was formerly used to refer to a specific type of ”foolscap” watermark. The paper is likely wood pulp paper, typical of the era, and does not have chain lines or watermarks common in older cotton and linen rags. There is minor to moderate discoloration in the pages, with minor foxing found throughout. Some minor water damage is present on the inner corners. The pages have little damage, but there are some chipped edges.

On page 579, there is a deliberate perfect square cut out of the top right corner, for unknown reasons. Most visible on the title page, exist four diagonal horizontal lines in each corner of the pages called “triangular cockling,” a remnant of the print process, which is most pronounced from the title page to about ⅕ of the way through the book. The text block has some cracked inner joints in the middle of the text and on the last flyleaf. The book is missing pages 7-10. 

The font is a type of small Pica, more specifically called Scotch Roman, designed in 1810 by Richard Austin. The text never changes size or font except on the title page or chapter header, which is in all caps. The ink in the text is black; there are no other colors present. The text is standard American English, which is characteristic of the early nineteenth-century. The book contains over forty typos in the text, but this will be discussed in greater detail in a future blog post.  

There is little to no writing in the book. Page 6 has some small X’s written in pencil on the side. The front of the book has the name John A. Widtsoe stamped three times on the front cover, with some pencil markings. The title page verso has the University call number Vault x BX 8623 1830 written in the top left as per department standards. On the Preface page, there is an old barcode stamp 225725 in blue ink at the bottom; this one pre-dates Utah University, and the purpose was likely used in an old library system (alluding to the non-extant library stamp). The last marking added in the book on the very last page is the University stamp UU on the left-hand side. This stamp is added to all books in the Rare Book Department in permanent archival ink to denote ownership if the book is ever stolen.

The only location with any substantial marginalia is page 73 on the right-hand side, with the text, “470 years before Christ” visible, which is some commentary on the text. On the bottom edge are four blobs that look to be covering a mistake. I can only make out the letters B and C, which may be B.C. (before Christ) as it relates to the other marginalia. 

To conclude, this book was made with a lot of care, but also made to be inexpensive. Joseph Smith wanted the work to be accessible, but he also did not have the funds to create a massively expensive book. Ultimately, the book is a product of its time: cheap paper, a thin layer of protective leather, and many mistakes in the text. Despite this, the book is in great condition as the owner was likely to have cherished it religiously. The minimal damage is evidence of this.”

Contributed by Alexander Jolley, Rare Books Assistant

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