Size and format

The text block is made up of 592 total pages from 37 sheets that were folded into 37 gatherings of eight leaves each. One printed sheet contained 16 pages. The printing of the Book of Mormon followed the octavo format where each sheet was split into two halves and the halves were folded three times to make a gathering of 16 pages. The text block measures 7.25 x 4.625 inches (18 x 12 cm) while the bounded book measures 7.5 x 4.75 x 1.75 inches (19 x 12 x 4 cm).

Paper

Paper production was expensive and a considerable portion of a book’s cost in 18th century American book making. At the end of the 18th century a new mechanical paper making machine was invented that eventually made its way to America. The production of paper increased and its cost dropped significantly in early 19th century America. There isn’t any evidence for watermarks on the paper used in the Book of Mormon.

Foliation or pagination

Leaves of the book are paginated in the top left corner on the verso and top right corner of each recto. The title page, copyright page, preface, and testimonies of witnesses don’t include page numbers like the rest of the book’s pages.

Printer’s device

There is no printer’s device used in the first edition of the Book of Mormon.

Type

E. B. Grandin bought a new case of metal type for this printing job. He used a Roman-style, serif typeface for the text’s main body. Some opening paragraphs in the text were set in an italic font as seen on page 5 or on page 407. Book and chapter titles are set using capital letters. Chapter numbers are set using roman numerals.

Color printing

The Book of Mormon first edition didn’t include color printing.

Binding

Luther Howard was the binder for the first printing of the Book of Mormon. His bindery was on the second floor of Grandin’s printing shop. Signatures were sewn together to form the book’s main text block. The book was bound in brown calfskin. On the spine of the book was the title BOOK OF MORMON in gold leaf on black. Gold leaf was also used as decoration on the spine of the book.

Endleaves and fly leaves

The first printed copies of the book included two blank front flyleaves. Copies of the book also included either two or three blank back flyleaves.