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Copyright for Book of Mormon, 11 June 1829

Source Note

Northern District of , Copyright for Book of Mormon, likely Utica, NY, 11 June 1829; recipient’s copy; printed form with manuscript additions probably in the handwriting of ; one page; CHL. Includes docket and embossed seal.
Single leaf measuring 12⅝ × 8⅛ inches (32 × 21 cm). On the verso, a docket in graphite in unidentified handwriting reads “Copyright of | the Book of Mormon”. The recto is missing the bottom left corner.
In addition to the copy featured here, another document is known to have been created as a result of JS’s efforts to secure a copyright for the Book of Mormon—a copy found in the Northern District of New York’s application book, now held at the Library of Congress. Both versions are assumed to have been created the same day by . The recipient’s copy is featured here because it was owned by JS. An inventory for church property made in 1847 lists “Copy Rights for Book of Mormon,” perhaps indicating that this text has been in continuous church custody since its creation.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Copyright for Book of Mormon, 11 June 1829, clerk’s copy, New York North District, Copyright Book, vol. 116, p. 107, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress, Washington DC.

    Copyright for Book of Mormon, 11 June 1829. Clerk’s copy. New York North District, Copyright Book, vol. 116, p. 107. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress, Washington DC.

  2. [2]

    “Inventory of Church Property,” 17 Mar. 1847, photocopy, Newel K. Whitney, Papers, BYU.

    Whitney, Newel K. Papers, 1825–1906. BYU.

Historical Introduction

Nineteenth-century authors who wanted to control the profits and distribution of their literary work had a number of options, each centered on the relationship between the author or proprietor and the printer, bookseller, or publisher. Two options did not include obtaining a copyright: an older style of print negotiations had the author obtain funds from a patron or a group of subscribers to pay a printer, who would then negotiate with the author on how to distribute the profits; alternatively, and more common in 1829, authors could negotiate with printers for half of the profits and avoid the necessity of outside funds. In the , federal copyright law was in force by 1790, and copyrighted books offered more security to both the printer and the author by protecting the text from unauthorized sale and distribution. An author with a federal copyright could permanently sell the rights to publish a manuscript or do so only temporarily or for a specified number of editions. The author could also retain the rights and negotiate separately with a printer for publication. In such cases, the copyright reassured a printer that the work would not be undercut by unauthorized editions. With various options available to him, JS determined to obtain a copyright for the Book of Mormon and retain control over its printing and distribution. The loss of the first manuscript translated from the plates may have made him more concerned about protecting his translation work and the resulting manuscripts.
The federal copyright statute of 1790, as amended in 1802, outlined five steps to obtaining a copyright: the applicant was to deposit a copy of a work’s title page with the clerk of the federal district court, pay for the copyright certificate, publish the certificate in the newspaper in four consecutive weeks over the next two months, print the certificate in the book, and provide a copy of the book to the secretary of state within six months of its publication. The copyright record presented here resulted from JS’s compliance with the first two requirements. It is a printed form prepared by , the clerk of the United States District Court for the Northern District of , who signed and dated it. The author could request extra copies of the record for sixty cents, but only the recipient’s copy, featured here, and the court’s copy are extant. As required by the law, the submission for the Book of Mormon copyright included a printed copy of the Book of Mormon title page, a document still retained along with the court’s copyright record.
It is unclear whether JS applied for the copyright in person, via representative, or by mail, but the record stated, “Joseph Smith Junior of the said District hath deposited [the title page] in this Office.” Though the district court may have occasionally held session in places nearer to JS’s temporary home in , Utica was the court’s seat and no information has been found suggesting that the court was held near Fayette in June 1829. JS is unlikely to have journeyed to Utica, a six- or seven-day round trip of more than 240 miles, because during June he spent approximately twenty days on , dictated five revelations in Fayette or , and traveled to and to negotiate with printers. More likely, JS sent to Utica to obtain the copyright. Though Cowdery was the usual scribe for the translation of the plates, he may have traveled to Utica during the period when his handwriting is absent from the book’s original manuscript for several chapters that were likely translated in early to mid-June 1829. It is also possible that the copyright application and title page were both mailed to the district court.
Printers in the area had little or no experience printing books that were as large and as expensive as the Book of Mormon. The copyright decreased the financial risk of publishing the book and therefore gave JS additional power to negotiate with potential printers. JS’s early efforts to find a printer were apparently conducted in and around , where originally rejected his proposal, likely fearing that the book would not be profitable. JS’s lack of a copyright during these early negotiations may also have made Grandin hesitant, since only a copyright would have protected his interests by prohibiting competing presses from producing the same book. After unsuccessful attempts in Palmyra, JS and solicited printers in , New York. There, Thurlow Weed appears also to have rejected the proposal, even though Harris offered his farm as payment, but then JS met success: his proposal was accepted by printer Elihu F. Marshall. JS returned to Palmyra with Marshall’s offer, and this time he successfully negotiated with Grandin.
After the agreement was in place, JS returned to his home in , Pennsylvania. He did not sell his copyright to or negotiate an arrangement to share the profits from the book’s sale, nor did he need to once had agreed to be the financier. John H. Gilbert, the typesetter of the Book of Mormon, estimated the cost for printing five thousand books at $3,000, a figure that included a profit for Grandin. If enough books sold, Harris could recoup what he had provided by mortgaging part of his farm for $3,000, and JS might even make a profit.
On 26 June 1829, the , New York, Wayne Sentinel published the title page and the copyright notice, but this apparently fell short of the legal requirement to print the title page for four consecutive weeks in a local newspaper. Only one advertisement appeared in the Wayne Sentinel in the two months that followed, and it did not feature the full copyright record. In March and April 1830, in what may have been an attempt by JS to satisfy the copyright law, the Wayne Sentinel advertised the Book of Mormon for four consecutive issues but did not include the complete copyright notice. The full notice was, however, included in the 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon. No evidence has been found to confirm that JS sent a copy of the Book of Mormon to the secretary of state to fulfill that portion of the law’s requirements. Thus, while JS likely did not complete the copyright process for the Book of Mormon, he fulfilled enough of the official steps in the prepublication period to ward off potential poachers of the text.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Finkelstein and McCleery, Introduction to Book History, 75.

    Finkelstein, David, and Alistair McCleery. An Introduction to Book History. New York: Routledge, 2005.

  2. [2]

    An Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by Securing Copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the Authors and Proprietors of Such Copies, during the Times Therein Mentioned [31 May 1790], Public Statutes at Large, 1st Cong., 2nd Sess., chap. 15, pp. 124–126.

    The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America, from the Organization of the Government in 1789, to March 3, 1845. . . . Edited by Richard Peters. 8 vols. Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1846–1867.

  3. [3]

    Preface to Book of Mormon, ca. Aug. 1829; see also Historical Introductions to Revelation, July 1828 [D&C 3]; and to Revelation, Spring 1829 [D&C 10].

  4. [4]

    An Act for the Encouragement of Learning [31 May 1790], Public Statutes at Large, 1st Cong., 2nd Sess., chap. 15, p. 125, secs. 3–4; An Act Supplementary to an Act Entitled “An Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by Securing the Copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the Authors and Proprietors of Such Copies, during the Times Therein Mentioned,” and Extending the Benefits Thereof to the Arts of Designing, Engraving, and Etching Historical and Other Prints [29 Apr. 1802], Public Statutes at Large, 7th Cong., 1st Sess., chap. 36, p. 171, sec. 1; see also Wadsworth, “Copyright Laws and the 1830 Book of Mormon,” 81–85.

    The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America, from the Organization of the Government in 1789, to March 3, 1845. . . . Edited by Richard Peters. 8 vols. Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1846–1867.

    Wadsworth, Nathaniel Hinckley. “Copyright Laws and the 1830 Book of Mormon.” BYU Studies 45, no. 3 (2006): 77–99.

  5. [5]

    An Act for the Encouragement of Learning [31 May 1790], Public Statutes at Large, 1st Cong., 2nd Sess., chap. 15, p. 125, sec. 3.

    The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America, from the Organization of the Government in 1789, to March 3, 1845. . . . Edited by Richard Peters. 8 vols. Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1846–1867.

  6. [6]

    See Title Page of Book of Mormon, ca. Early June 1829.

  7. [7]

    See Skousen, Original Manuscript of the Book of Mormon, 6, 14.

    Skousen, Royal, ed. The Original Manuscript of the Book of Mormon: Typographical Facsimile of the Extant Text. Provo, UT: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, Brigham Young University, 2001.

  8. [8]

    Thurlow Weed, Statement, New York City, NY, 12 Apr. 1880, in Dickinson, New Light on Mormonism, 260–261.

    Dickinson, Ellen E. New Light on Mormonism. New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1885.

  9. [9]

    Pomeroy Tucker, the editor of Grandin’s Wayne Sentinel, recalled that Grandin decided to print the Book of Mormon after Marshall agreed to do so. John H. Gilbert explained that Grandin accepted after he was approached the second time, “Harris assuring Grandin that the book would be printed in Rochester if he declined the job again.” Gilbert added, “Mr Grandin consented to do the job if his terms were accepted.” (Tucker, Origin, Rise, and Progress of Mormonism, 50–53; John H. Gilbert, Memorandum, 8 Sept. 1892, photocopy, CHL.)

    Tucker, Pomeroy. Origin, Rise, and Progress of Mormonism: Biography of Its Founders and History of Its Church. New York: D. Appleton, 1867.

    Gilbert, John H. Memorandum, 8 Sept. 1892. Photocopy. CHL. MS 9223.

  10. [10]

    JS History, vol. A-1, 34.

  11. [11]

    John H. Gilbert, Statement, 23 Oct. 1887, CHL; Indenture, Martin Harris to Egbert B. Grandin, Wayne Co., NY, 25 Aug. 1829, Wayne Co., NY, Mortgage Records, vol. 3, pp. 325–326, microfilm 479,556, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; see also Historical Introduction to Revelation, ca. Summer 1829 [D&C 19].

    Gilbert, John H. Statement, 23 Oct. 1887. CHL. MS 2370.

    U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

  12. [12]

    News item, Wayne Sentinel (Palmyra, NY), 26 June 1829, [3].

    Wayne Sentinel. Palmyra, NY. 1823–1852, 1860–1861.

  13. [13]

    See “The Book of Mormon,” Wayne Sentinel (Palmyra, NY), 26 Mar. 1830, [3].

    Wayne Sentinel. Palmyra, NY. 1823–1852, 1860–1861.

  14. [14]

    In January 1830, Abner Cole published portions of the Book of Mormon in three issues of the Palmyra Reflector but then stopped, apparently because JS asserted his copyright authority. (Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1844–1845, bk. 9, [9]–[11]; see also “The First Book of Nephi,” Reflector [Palmyra, NY], 2 Jan. 1830, 9; “The First Book of Nephi,” Reflector, 13 Jan. 1830, 17; “Book of Mormon,” Reflector, 22 Jan. 1830, 27–28; and Wadsworth, “Copyright Laws and the 1830 Book of Mormon,” 86–91.)

    Reflector. Palmyra, NY. 1821–1831.

    Wadsworth, Nathaniel Hinckley. “Copyright Laws and the 1830 Book of Mormon.” BYU Studies 45, no. 3 (2006): 77–99.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Title Page of Book of Mormon, circa Early June 1829

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Editorial Title
Copyright for Book of Mormon, 11 June 1829
ID #
21
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
JSP, D1:76–81
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