SMITH, Joseph (1805-1844). The Book of Mormon: An Account Written by the Hand of Mormon, Upon Plates Taken from the Plates of Nephi... by Joseph Smith, Junior, Author and Proprietor . Palmyra: Printed by E.B. Grandin, for the Author, 1830. 8 o (7¼ x 4 9/16 in.). Title-page (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. (Occasional light spotting and browning as usual, a few small pale stains.) Contemporary mottled sheep, smooth spine gilt-ruled, black morocco lettering-piece (slight scuffing and wear at extremities). THE FINE STREETER COPY OF THE FIRST EDITION OF THE BOOK OF MORMON, WITH THE EXTRA LEAF OF TESTIMONIES. The unusually fine Streeter copy of Joseph Smith's translation of the golden tablets revealed to him by the angel Moroni in the hill of "cumorah" near Manchester, New York. This edition is the only one in which Smith was styled "author," rather than "translator," and was issued only two weeks before the formal founding of the Church of Latter-Day Saints on 6 April 1830. The text was dictated to Oliver Cowdery, who served as scribe, and a local printer, Egbert B. Grandin, proprietor of the Wayne Sentinel , undertook to print the sizeable edition (5,000 copies) for the 25-year old Smith. The manuscript "was delivered a few pages at a time to the typesetter, who supplied all the punctuation and paragraphing" (Crawley and Flake). Th Church catalogue notes that this first printing of the Mormon Bible forbade freemasonry and polygamy, but the latter doctrine was altered in subsequent editions so as to permit devotees a plurality of wives. The present is a very good copy, exhibiting only a moderate amount of the foxing and browning that disfigures most copies of this edition. Church 1342; Crawley & Flake, A Mormon Fifty 1; Grolier American 37; Howes S623; Sabin 83028; Streeter 4:2262. Provenance : Thomas W. Streeter (bookplate; pencilled notes on front free endpaper; sale, Parke-Bernet, 24 April 1968, lot 2262) -- Harry J. Sonneborn (sale, Sotheby's New York, 5 June 1980, lot 193).
SMITH, Joseph (1805-1844). The Book of Mormon: An Account Written by the Hand of Mormon, Upon Plates Taken from the Plates of Nephi... by Joseph Smith, Junior, Author and Proprietor . Palmyra: Printed by E.B. Grandin, for the Author, 1830. 8 o (7¼ x 4 9/16 in.). Title-page (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. (Occasional light spotting and browning as usual, a few small pale stains.) Contemporary mottled sheep, smooth spine gilt-ruled, black morocco lettering-piece (slight scuffing and wear at extremities). THE FINE STREETER COPY OF THE FIRST EDITION OF THE BOOK OF MORMON, WITH THE EXTRA LEAF OF TESTIMONIES. The unusually fine Streeter copy of Joseph Smith's translation of the golden tablets revealed to him by the angel Moroni in the hill of "cumorah" near Manchester, New York. This edition is the only one in which Smith was styled "author," rather than "translator," and was issued only two weeks before the formal founding of the Church of Latter-Day Saints on 6 April 1830. The text was dictated to Oliver Cowdery, who served as scribe, and a local printer, Egbert B. Grandin, proprietor of the Wayne Sentinel , undertook to print the sizeable edition (5,000 copies) for the 25-year old Smith. The manuscript "was delivered a few pages at a time to the typesetter, who supplied all the punctuation and paragraphing" (Crawley and Flake). Th Church catalogue notes that this first printing of the Mormon Bible forbade freemasonry and polygamy, but the latter doctrine was altered in subsequent editions so as to permit devotees a plurality of wives. The present is a very good copy, exhibiting only a moderate amount of the foxing and browning that disfigures most copies of this edition. Church 1342; Crawley & Flake, A Mormon Fifty 1; Grolier American 37; Howes S623; Sabin 83028; Streeter 4:2262. Provenance : Thomas W. Streeter (bookplate; pencilled notes on front free endpaper; sale, Parke-Bernet, 24 April 1968, lot 2262) -- Harry J. Sonneborn (sale, Sotheby's New York, 5 June 1980, lot 193).
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
