177-Year Old Book Of Mormon Found

The rare first edition copy of the Book of Mormon was found at the bottom of a box of books by Mark Witmer, manager of Hessney Auction Co., in a house near Palmyra, New York. It will be be put up for auction this week in the New York estate auction.

Palmyra/Fayette, NY - It's almost fitting that this 177-year old first edition copy of the Book of Mormon was found, since this was also the birthplace of the religion itself. The book was printed in 1830 by founder Joseph Smith who lived here before moving west. The book, found at the bottom of a packed box of books, is in good, unrestored condition with its original binding. Goldleaf lettering that was once on the cover is no longer there and a front page is missing from the book.

"It has some handwriting in the very front on the border that says 'Scarce. First edition' done in pencil the way a book dealer would normally do it. Underneath it, it has been erased, but it looks like it says $25 or $250 or something like that," Witmer said.

Witmer would not say who the person was that had this copy. The book will be going up for auction this Wednesday at the Hessney Auction Company's center in Geneva, New York. When this book was printed, there were about 5,000 copies and it's believed that only a few hundred still exists today. Followers of the Mormon religion, otherwise known as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe the Book of Mormon to be "scripture on par with the Bible". The founder of the religion, John Smith, told that he had "translated the book from gold plates delivered to him by an angel." Latter-Day Harvest, a Utah-based book seller sells these first editions for $100,000. Witmer said that he didn't think the copy he has will sell for that much though. This auction has generated a lot of attention from rare book collectors and religious historians across the country. A private collector, John Hajicek says that there has been growing interest in rare Mormon documents and this is what is driving the prices upwards. He alone owns 75 first editions in his rare books collection which is worth $20 million. Hajicek said he will be in Geneva for this auction. The highest price so far documented for a first copy was paid by Hajicek in 1999, for the grand amount of $58,000!