"Mr E. B. Grandin, the printer of the 'Wayne Sentinal,' came to me and said he wanted I should assist him in estimating the cost of printing 5000 copies of a book that Martin Harris wanted to get printed, which was called the 'Mormon Bible.'" — John H. Gilbert1
Egbert Bratt Grandin was born in 1806 and lived in Palmyra, New York.2 He was the publisher of the Wayne Sentinel newspaper and the owner of a print shop. In 1829, Joseph Smith approached him about printing 5,000 copies of the Book of Mormon. Grandin was skeptical that Joseph would be able to pay him from sales of the book, so he required $3,000 up-front.
Martin Harris funded the printing of the first edition of the Book of Mormon and even mortgaged his farm to cover the up-front payment.3 Oliver Cowdery created the printer's manuscript, taking care to prevent theft or loss, to avoid another loss like the 116 pages. The manuscript was then given to John Gilbert, who added punctuation for clarity.4
Another man, Abner Cole, was using Grandin's press for his newspaper. He began publishing excerpts from the Book of Mormon—without permission. Joseph Smith had to assert his copyright and threaten legal action before Cole would stop publishing the excerpts.5
