John Gilbert, typesetter of the Book of Mormon

“I punctuated it to make it read as I supposed the Author intended, and but very little punctuation was altered in proofreading.” – John Gilbert

This letter dated Feb. 10, 1879, is written by John Gilbert, typesetter of the text of the Book of Mormon. Of note in this letter is the fact that Mr. Gilbert states that the entire text of the Book of Mormon manuscript was without punctuation (page 1), as well as his assertion that the text comes from the Solomon Spaulding Manuscript (page 2). By reading the entire letter it is obvious that he did not believe Joseph Smith’s account of how the Book of Mormon was received. Clearly those closest to the accounts of its origination had varying responses to the Restoration, something prophesied by Moroni to Joseph when he was only 17 years old (see Joseph Smith History 1.33).

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