Grandin Building: Book of Mormon Publication Site

Posted in Museums
Updated February 10, 2023

One spot that really surprised us on our Church History tour was the Grandin Building. This is the site of the printing of the first copies of the Book of Mormon in Palmyra, New York. It is a relatively new site, and we were sure what to expect, but the Grandin Building turned out to be one of our favorites.

child sitting in front of a sign showing all the languages that the Book of Mormon is printed in — The Book of Mormon is printed in many different languages.

History

In 1830, Joseph Smith took his manuscript copy of the Book of Mormon to Egbert B. Grandin, a new publisher in town, and hired him to print 5,000 leather-bound copies of the book. He paid $3,000 for these books, and they took two years to finish. The Grandin Building gives you a good idea why it took so long.

original brick walls of the Granding building — These are the original walls of the Grandin building. The church has built their Visitor Center around it.

room with many books and papers on display — The tour begins in this room where you learn the history of publishing the Book of Mormon.

information signs and paintings — There is an area upstairs with signs and items to view about the history of the Book of Mormon.

Printing Books

This building is original, and it has been restored inside, but the tour isn’t really about the building. This tour focuses on the printing process, and the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. There is a demonstration to show how the type was set, the press was inked, and the pages printed. The missionaries leading the tour give the kids (and adults) a proof sheet with 32 pages of the Book of Mormon and show them how to fold it into the beginning of the book.

tour guide showing how the printing press works — Upstairs you learn all about how the printing process worked in the early 1800s.

child folding a paper to make a book — Our boys loved making their own books.

Next, they demonstrate how to stitch the binding of the book. Finally, they show you how a book was leather bound. Seeing this process is really cool, and our boys were very involved and interested in the printing of the Book of Mormon. There are even a few original copies of the book on display.

boys holding up paper books — All done! Master book makers.

original copy of the Book of Mormon — These are the original copies of the Book of Mormon and Bible that are on display.

Artwork

The final thing at Grandin Building that is worth noting is the art. There are some really famous original paintings that Latter-Day Saints will recognize from their Book of Mormon. The famous Christ in America picture is on one wall, and it is surprisingly large. There are other originals, like Mormon and the plates. We liked the scenes from the Book of Mormon on display that we had never seen before.

large painting of Jesus Christ appearing to the people in the Americas — This is an original painting.

4 paintings hanging on wall — These were paintings we had never seen before of scenes from the Book of Mormon.

The Grandin Building was one of our favorite Church History sites. We learned so much and the missionaries giving tours did a great job of involving the children in the tour. Make sure to plan an hour for it when you visit Palmyra. Check their website for current hours.