The Book of Mormon: An Account Written by the Hand of Mormon, Upon Plates taken from the Plates of Nephi
- Hardcover
- Chicago: Northern States Mission, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Publishers (Press of Henry C. Etten & Co.), 1907
Chicago: Northern States Mission, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Publishers (Press of Henry C. Etten & Co.), 1907. Third Chicago Edition. Hardcover. Very Good +. xii; 623pp. Sextodecimo [17 cm] Black cloth over boards with three blind stamped linear borders along with ornamental devices on the front and rear board. Boards a hair cocked. Subtle rubbing to the edges of the boards. Two tiny pin-sized holes along the front joint. Front hinge just a touch soft. Small stains or blemishes (most of them very faint) to a handful of pages. Trivial nicks to the fore-edge margin of a couple of the pages. Very occasional minor imperfections in the printing of the page numbers. Collated and found to be complete. Pages exceptionally clean. In better than very good condition. Flake/Draper 658. Division into Chapters and Verses, with References, by Orson Pratt, Sen. Same as 1906 Chicago edition.
Due to the fact that the Book of Mormon was used as a primary tool in missionary work, Northern States Mission President German Edgar Ellsworth (1871-1961) wanted to publish the book in large quantities.
"Sent to the Northern States Mission in 1903, he [German Ellsworth] worked in the office in Chicago as mission secretary. Examining the stock of literature one day, he found no copies of the Book of Mormon on hand for 175 elders and sisters, so he ordered three dozen copies from Deseret News Press for thirty-seven and a half cents each, though President Asahel Woodruff said his order would last 'the next six months.' Soon after receiving the call (by wire) to succeed Woodruff in the summer of 1904, Ellsworth asked Joseph F. Smith for permission to contract with Chicago printer Henry C. Etten & Co. for ten thousand copies of the book. As Ellsworth later recalled, President Smith expressed reservations: 'You are only a boy, and I am afraid you will overdo it.' But the young president persistently advocated the book’s inherent 'value . . . as a missionary' until he received the prophet’s blessing." - John C. Thomas (https://rsc.byu.edu/vol-19-no-1-2018/book-mormon-american-missions-turn-twentieth-century).
The first 'Chicago edition' of the Book of Mormon appeared in August 1905.
Due to the fact that the Book of Mormon was used as a primary tool in missionary work, Northern States Mission President German Edgar Ellsworth (1871-1961) wanted to publish the book in large quantities.
"Sent to the Northern States Mission in 1903, he [German Ellsworth] worked in the office in Chicago as mission secretary. Examining the stock of literature one day, he found no copies of the Book of Mormon on hand for 175 elders and sisters, so he ordered three dozen copies from Deseret News Press for thirty-seven and a half cents each, though President Asahel Woodruff said his order would last 'the next six months.' Soon after receiving the call (by wire) to succeed Woodruff in the summer of 1904, Ellsworth asked Joseph F. Smith for permission to contract with Chicago printer Henry C. Etten & Co. for ten thousand copies of the book. As Ellsworth later recalled, President Smith expressed reservations: 'You are only a boy, and I am afraid you will overdo it.' But the young president persistently advocated the book’s inherent 'value . . . as a missionary' until he received the prophet’s blessing." - John C. Thomas (https://rsc.byu.edu/vol-19-no-1-2018/book-mormon-american-missions-turn-twentieth-century).
The first 'Chicago edition' of the Book of Mormon appeared in August 1905.