piece of superstition that has come to our knowledge." In September, Abner Cole began a weekly, the Palmyra Reflector, and because he used Grandin's press, Cole had access to the unbound sheets and reprinted mocking excerpts until Smith threatened legal action. According to Smith's mother, Lucy Mack Smith, locals then organized a boycott, and Grandin "panicked and suspended publication until Joseph managed to allay his fears." Smith received a revelation for Harris, "a commandment of God and not of man," that he should "not covet" his property "but impart it freely to the printing of the Book of Mormon which contains the truth and the word of God .... Pay the debt thou hast contracted with the printer." By late March 1830, the Book of Mormon was available for sale, but the entire first edition was not complete until early summer. Harris desperately tried to sell the books himself but lamented that "no Body [sic] wants them." Harris's farm was sold for $3000 and the proceeds paid to Grandin. In 1999, a copy of Grandin's first edition of the Book of Mormon sold for $58,000; in 2000 another copy was sold for $44,000; and in 2007 a copy was sold at auction for $180,000. On March 26, 1998, the anniversary of the first printing, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) dedicated a restoration of part of the original Grandin establishment, which the church maintains and where it offers free guided tours. On September 18, 2017, the LDS Church purchased the Cowdery manuscript used by Grandin. The church bought the manuscript from the Independence, Missouri-based Community of Christ for a reported price of $35 million. The Community of Christ, formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, had owned the manuscript since 1903. References External links Book of Mormon Historic Publication Site Grandin Printing Shop - Visiting information Official site of Grandin Print Shop 1806 births 1845 deaths American printers Book of Mormon studies People from Palmyra, New York People from Monmouth County, New Jersey Latter Day Saint movement in New York (state)