1830 Leather Bound
Book
of Mormon replica
from Grandin Aratisans/Stratford Books
This is easily the most accurate mass-produced version in our opinion. It's available exclusively from Stratford Books Distributing. Retail price: $38.95 (inquiries at StratfordBooks@gmail.com). Details below.
BOOKCRAFER'S THIRD-PARTY REVIEWS
This one from Grandin Artisans/Stratford Books is the only replica highly accurate to the original, as described by independent experts below (not affiliated with the publishing company):
“This is by far the best replica AND the only one leather-bound,” states Steve Rasmussen, an independent book conservator and historian. “It's spot on - the Rolls Royce of 1830 replicas.” He backs assessment with years of repairing antique books, including a number of 1830 Book of Mormon originals, and speaks with an independent voice – he is not part of this replica company.
Utah book artisan Steve Blake, also independent, concurs: “In my opinion, Stratford Books has produced the most accurate replica of the 1830 Book of Mormon in contemporary times, including the paper, cover, color, size, weight, thickness, spine accuracy – everything.”
Master Book Binder Ethan Ensign of Scrub Oak Bindery in Salt Lake City, another independent book restorer, endorses this as the best-made 1830 replica. He has restored over 50 original 1830 copies.
PLEASE NOTE: Many of the 1830 replicas for sale online are actually "out-of-date" editions of Stratford Books with another name used. Stratford has 5 earlier editions in fact, between 2005-2018 (all with various colored leather covers for each edition - from dark yellow to light, medium, and very dark brown). Each one was the best on the market at the time, but each has seen improvements made since. For the best, you'll want their latest Sixth Edition (2020) - the leather improved and other features also improved.
What's the story behind this replica?
To launch it, Stratford used a research team to “dissect” five 1830 originals, using a digital micrometer to measure all aspects of the book's manufacturing details, accurate to within 20/100,000th of an inch. From there the team sought out the most authentic materials.
The pages of this and most replicas have been digitally reproduced at actual size and print quality from the first edition published at the E. B. Grandin Building in Palmyra, New York in March 1830. But this replica takes it SEVERAL STEPS FURTHER. “It's the one that most accurately re-creates the QUALITY and CONSTRUCTION of the original First Edition,” states Steve Rasmussen.
From restoring numerous 1830 Book of Mormon originals, Rasmussen points out 7 crucial features this replica has:
(1.) LEATHER COVER - “This is the ONLY replica with leather covers. It comes closest to matching the color of the original 1830 edition when that one was published," he states. “Over the years, 1830 originals have become darker with age, as we see them today.”
(Note that each of the Stratford Books' editions since 2005 have made improvements to the leather cover and binding of the previous editions.)
(2.) MOST ACCURATE PAPER – “This 1830 replica's paper comes closest to the correct texture: not too smooth - like some, and not too rough - like others. It also has the right pH and opacity, and is the ONLY one with the correct thickness.” In fact, it measures to within 1/300th of an inch for the entire 592 page text block! “It's also the most correct color for any paper – a luscious light cream.”
(3.) MOST ACCURATE SPINE ARTWORK – “This is the only edition accurately replicating the spine of the 1830 edition - the letters and gold bands,” he states. “Noteworthy, the size, spacing and thickness of letters and gold bands on the spine varied among copies of the 1830 edition. Nevertheless, this replica re-creates them most accurately, according to the original copies I've worked on. It also uses the correct shade of gold.”
(4.) THE ONLY REPLICA WITH CORRECT NUMBER OF "END SHEETS" - “This is the only replica with the correct number of blank pages, called "end sheets," in front and back. Today many original 1830 copies have less end sheets than others. But when they were published in1830 they all had the same number.” Why the discrepancy? “Many readers in the 1800s tore out these blank pages for note-taking, letter-writing, and bookmarking, since paper was scarce.”
(5.) STITCHED BINDING – “This one is stitched, which the original was," according to Rasmussen. "Very few replicas are."
(6.) Sewn "SIGNATURES” - Most replicas are glued only, but this one is SEWN, with gluing added for extra strength, as many early books were.
(7.) ALL TEXT CORRECTLY PLACED - “Not all 1830 replicas position all the text correctly on the pages, but this one does.”
Rasmussen finishes his analysis:
“Stratford's wood-based paper, with its fine, long fibers made from the Kraft process, comes closest to the original, cotton-based paper with its similar, albeit longer fibers – especially compared to the more often-used, 'groundwood' paper with its short fibers found in other replicas, and especially in newspapers. ('Groundwood' also has acid-producing lignan that turns it brittle and yellow with time.)
“Kudos to Stratford for using the best type of paper for all its editions - building accuracy, strength, and durability into its replicas - and especially now for providing the most accurate thickness of any affordable replica!”
The cost for this type of paper, stitching, binding, and cover far exceeds the average replica (or any average book). The retail price could be triple of what the publisher is charging, based on the cost of production. However, the publisher is committed to getting this remarkable work of history into as many hands as possible.
Experience the First Edition as the early Latter-day Saints converts did – with this beautiful, accurate, leather bound replica from Grandin Artisans and Stratford Books!
** Some replicas may claim to use leather, but after testing, their covers show characteristics of plastic (simulated leather) – bubbling under high temperature.
Rasmussen adds, "You would have to pay hundreds of dollars for a hand-made re-creation to get any closer to the original First Edition."
THE 50 FEATURES
As a surprisingly authentic replica for one that is published (mass-produced), it is the only one with all 50 of these features (note that some have a few features only):
-- Leather covers. This is the only one with leather covers. What makes LEATHER on a book cover (or clothes) smell so good? Natural vegetable tanning adds a light and earthy scent to leather. While chemical tanning can give leather an unpleasant chemical smell, leather processed with tannin and aluminum salts has that much-loved classic leather scent, which is earthy and slightly sweet.
-- Sewn binding. This is the highest quality bookbinding in
the world. It makes books “archival safe,” and is the hallmark of library
quality books. The 1830 first edition had it. A replica should too. Most do
NOT. Instead they are GLUED ONLY. Fact about sewing worth knowing: Hand sewing was replaced with "Smythe-sewn binding" with
essentially the same results, using a machine developed some years after the
Book of Mormon, by David M. Smythe (1833-1907), an Irish-born U.S. inventor. It
utilizes both sewing and adhesive for extra strength. Getting a replica Book of Mormon bound either way - by
hand or Smyth-sewing - gives it the stitching a replica deserves to have.
Notice the sewing similarities of this replica to the 1830 first edition:
• Signatures are
threaded properly with correct number of holes
• Rare,
single thread sewing technique is employed (not the typical, Smythe-sewn
double-threading, which creates too much bulk on the spine)
• Sewing
materials – down to the smallest details of black and white color of single
threads, accurately configured to comprise cords, even at the correct weight
and number
• Spine
rounded to the proper degree (replicas typically have spines too flat or too
rounded, due to improper sewing or, more common, inaccurate binding technique
not using sewing)
--Authentic construction features:
• page
dimensions
• cover
dimensions
• leather
thickness
• total cover
thickness (including leather and “boards” underneath the leather)
* end sheet
configuration at front - 3 are used (6 pages)
* end sheet
configuration at back - 3 are used (6 pages) plus one blank sheet (2 pages) of unprinted text
* no head and
tail bands (replica editions often errantly include these bands)
* proper placement
on page for Testimony of the Three Witnesses
* proper placement
on page for Testimony of the Eight Witnesses
--Authentic spine design:
* typeface of
"Book of Mormon" on the spine (our typeface historian/artist studied
several first edition originals and traced the clearest one to make it correct)
* font size
of the book title
• spine label
size and height
• gold bands
at top and bottom of the spine label actually cross over the black label,
leaving black above and below the bands
• the other
gold bands are correctly positioned on the spine, including distance between
bands
• gold bands
have correct width (rarely seen in replicas)
• gold bands
have gold content like the original – 23K
• gold bands
are the correct “color” and shade of gold
* the most
standard number of gold bands across spine: 7
* gold bands have
correct thickness
* gold bands
have correct color and shade
* gold bands are
correct distance from each other, and where they are placed on the spine
* gold bands
are applied straight
--Authentic artwork of the title, “Book of Mormon,” on the
spine:
• font size
• typeface (recreated by type
designer/historian to exactness)
• flaws and imperfections of original
• spacing between letters
• kerning (positioning of letters
within words)
• leading (distance vertically between
lines of words, measured from the bottom of each line of letters)
--Accurate paper:
·
thickness
(within range of various thin-to-thick volumes produced in the original 1830 edition). This new edition is within 1/300th of an inch of the entire 592 page text block of the original Book of Mormon!. Grandin Artisans examined and measured 4 original copies of the 1830 edition, finding each had a text block thickness of 1 and 5/32 of an inch (1.16 inch). The measuring tool was a digital micrometer, accurate to within 20/100,000 of an inch. This calculates out to each page of the original being .00195945945 of an inch.
· color
· texture
·
brightness
·
opacity
· page count: 590 pages of printed matter and 2 pages blank text in the back (separate from the 6 pages – 3 “end sheets” - of blank pages in the back)
·
acidity.
The 7% pH of the paper used in this replica comes as close as possible to that
used in the original 1830 edition, making the paper genuinely acid-free, which
lasts for generations - unlike books that came out shortly after 1830, which
were infused with wood pulp, making it brittle in later years. (Note that in 1830,
fortuitously the year the Book of Mormon was first printed, paper had the
lowest acidity – of 5.6 pH - within a 150 year period, from 1800 to 1950. After
1830, and especially after 1840, paper acidity increased dramatically. The year
1830 also introduced “Rosin-sizing,” making paper better for not turning
brittle, compared to before and later, but the extra acidity added to the paper for this process cut down the life span of the paper. Further note that a relatively few
copies of the 1830 edition were apparently made with wood pulp paper, as there
was a mistaken paper shipment. Most were made with cotton rag paper, which lasts the longest for reasons described below. But those "wood-pulp produced" paper copies have mostly disintegrated by
this century. The “Triple-e edition” copies were among those with cotton rag paper that
will likely last for centuries, since it was the first of the print run and had
better paper. This Grandin Artisans reproduction accurately replicates that.)
· paper quality. Of the 5 affordable First Edition Book of Mormon
replicas ($25-39) that are still in print and on the market, 2 of them use
higher quality paper and 3 of them use much lower quality paper. (The
2 with higher quality paper are this one from Grandin Artisans / Stratford Books, and the one from Herald House, a
division of the Community of Christ Church in Independence, Mo. (That one however has a number of other inaccuracies, including the spine artwork, gold band spacing, label design on the spine, type font and layout, paper thickness, positioning of pages, and color/texture/material used for the cover, etc.)
The Grandin Artisans edition
distributed by Stratford Books uses the highest quality paper in
replicas. As stated above, and an important side note, is the fact that the bulk of 592 pages is
within 1/300th of an inch of the thickness of the original
1830 edition - a remarkable feat.
The paper itself is very high quality, and a
primary reason is because of the lack of acids in it that causes low
quality paper to deteriorate, become brittle, and discolor
prematurely. The lower quality paper is called groundwood. Two of the
above 4 mentioned replicas apparently use groundwood, based on tests of all 4 replicas made by an independent artisan who accelerated the aging process, similar to tests outlined by the Library of Congress, mentioned more below.
The tests revealed that the 2 replicas with higher quality paper were those used in the Grandin Artisans' replica and the one used in the Herald House edition.
What is groundwood paper? And, by contrast, what is the higher quality paper?
Groundwood paper does not have lignan
removed, whereas the higher quality paper uses the "Kraft process." Lignan is the
culprit that makes paper go brittle, deteriorate quickly, and which discolors paper, even in a few months in many cases. (Lignan interferes with the formation of
hydrogen bonds in the fiber needed for paper strength.)
What makes “Kraft” the higher quality way of making pulp for paper? It removes the lignan. How? From a chemical process. In German it means “strength.” (Specifically, it uses a sulfate process, replacing the sulfite process used in
making pulp from the mid 1800s until the the 1940s).
In a nutshell, both Kraft and groundwood use wood pulp for making paper.
Before Kraft and groundwood - back in the mid-1800s - cotton rags were used as the raw material for paper. The original Book of Mormon was
made from cotton rags.
Cotton rag paper has the longest paper
fibers and is therefore the strongest. Next on the list for fiber
length and strength is Kraft processed paper (the chemical process of
wood pulp). Last on the list for fiber length and strength is
groundwood, which is a mechanical (non chemical) process. The reason
it has the shortest fibers is because it cuts up the “cellulose
chains” in wood far more than Kraft processing.
This process produces the weakest paper
for another reason - it retains the “lignan” in it, which has
acid compounds that break down the fibers and cause discoloration,
weakness, brittleness, and fast aging.
(Technically, lignan promostes acid
hydrolysis. Kraft puling removes lignan.)
Note that wood pulp paper made after
the 1980s is better than before. Before, it tended to be more acidic
from the above-mentioned “alum-rosin sizing,” which was added to paper to reduce
absorbency and to minimize bleeding of inks. It was made worse by
adding moisture, which generates sulfuric acid. However, two good
things happened in the 1980's – alum-rozin sizing was no longer
added, and manufacturers began adding alkaline buffers to wood pulp
paper. This retards or prevents acid hydrolysis by neutralizing acids
that attack the cellulose chains in paper. Then, in the 1990's, this addition of alkaline buffers became standard.
How long does Kraft paper last? If kept
in optimal conditions of cooler temperatures and 30-40% humidity, it
will last hundreds of years.
Recently the Library of Congress has
developed accelerated aging tests. This is done by using high
temperatures and elevated humidity. Why elevated humidity? Moisture
plays an essential role in the acid hydrolysis of paper.
The Library of Congress learned that
rate of aging (paper degradation) increases with time as acid
degradation products accumulate in the paper.
Note that with cotton rag papers, such
as the original Book of Mormon and other old books, they should not
be kept in closed, airtight environments because the paper retains
the acidic degradation products, and they accumulate more if not
aired out.
What's the bottom line? Kraft process
paper from wood pulp is far superior and lasts much longer than
groundwood, which gets brittle, discolors, and ages quickly.
This Grandin Artisans / Stratford Books
edition of the 1830 Book of Mormon replica uses high-quality Kraft
process paper, while 2 of the other 3 affordable replicas on the
market apparently do not, based on the afore-mentioned tests. Overall, the high quality of the paper used for this edition is hard to match, unless one uses 100% cotton rag paper produced by hand, which would likely cost hundreds of dollars per copy for the paper alone.
--Accurately
reproduced signatures (paper sections) with:
· Our replica has signatures sewn together in order to give the books that needed authenticity to the original 1830 edition, and to make them last much longer, by making them much more durable then "glued-only" books. That's why our books will hold up on treks and other rigorous activities considerably better than other replicas on the market (which are mostly glued-only). (Note that there are some hand-produced sewn replicas, in very limited editions, that cost many hundreds of dollars, but this replica available from Stratford Books is the only one that is under $39 and is affordable.)
· The
first page of actual text, and thus all following pages in the book, are
properly positioned in every signature configuration
· correct
number of blank “text pages” are used in the last signature
--Authentic
content:
•
original text, digitally reproduced from the 1830 edition
•
original typesetting
•
page arrangement
•
page count
*
Rare, “Triple-e edition.” An unusual typo was made in the first few copies of
the 1830 First Edition. It is contained here as well. When the 5,000 copies
were printed, a mistake was made on the first 150 or so, which has made those
copies become known as the “Triple-e edition.” This replica is of that edition!
You can find the typo on the next to the last page, at “The Testimony of Three
Witnesses,” line 10. There, the word “seen” is misspelled with 3 e’s. As soon
as the printers caught the mistake, they corrected it. This makes our replica,
we feel, especially interesting.
Note the following 6 features missing from real, published, mass-produced replicas. A replica would have to be hand-made for many hundreds of dollars to obtain most of these features. Getting the right paper would up the cost even considerably more:
1. Black leather label glued to the spine (The new version uses black foil stamped to the spine to simulate leather - it actually works very convincingly.)
2. Thin end sheet paper. (The new version uses thick end sheets to give the binding strength, otherwise the cover could come loose much easier. The printer that was utilized for this version demanded the use of thick end sheet paper; otherwise, the covers could not be applied with enough strength to the "book block" - the book itself, before the cover is applied.)
3. Exact text paper. (The paper for the near-exact composition would have to be custom-made, and almost impossible to produce. The paper content of the first edition was 100% rag - not available in rolls today for printing. The paper used for this new edition has other paper characteristics that are practically the same - opacity, color, etc., high quality, acid free, no wood pulp contained in it, etc., per above.)
4. Closed joint binding. (The first two editions by Stratford Books had this feature but they stopped using this method because other problems were and are created from "closed joint binding:" Although a mass-produced edition can use this method of binding, a bigger sacrifice is made regarding the spine, because it eliminates the full, accurate artwork on the spine, due to certain binding limitations.)
5. The same type of calfskin. (Ours is leather from mostly adult cattle, but it is very expensive to use the exact same type of calfskin as the original, which must be applied to books by hand.)
Letter-pressed text, produced from the same printing machine model, with the same metal type used for the original 1830 edition.
All in all, the new mass-produced edition from Grandin Artisans, available from Stratford Books, is as close as one can get to the original, without custom-making a replica costing far more than what most people can afford (plus the additional cost of custom-made paper!) These 50 features place this replica in a remarkable position - of being the most affordable by far of a highly authentic reproduction of the original 1830 first edition Book of Mormon.
We hope you enjoy a this extremely high quality replica, and that by holding and reading it, it takes you back to the day of when the Book of Mormon was first made in 1830.
This review revised 28 March 2024. It was originally published July 2015 and revised 5 August 2015, 22 April 2017, 27, 29 July 2017, 23 Sep 2020, and 15 August 2023.
