Invented by Peter Smith

The Smith Improved Printing Press displayed in the Iron Acorn Press room is a replica of the printing press invented by Peter Smith (1795-1823) that Egbert Bratt Grandin used to print the 1st Edition of The Book of Mormon. Peter Smith earned a degree from Yale University and owned a carpentry shop—Smith, Hoe and Co.—that specialized in wood products for printers.  Smith, Hoe, and Co. made the Smith Improved Press available to the market in 1822.

Manufactured by Steve Pratt

Our press is one of three replicas manufactured by Steve Pratt. Pratt sand-cast the major parts of the press at a foundry in Nephi, Utah, and cast the other steel cast parts in a lost-wax ceramic-mold process at a foundry in American Fork, Utah. Both of these foundries completed their work in the summer of 2007. From then until October 2008, Steve Pratt finished the castings, made other castings, cut steel parts, and machined surfaces. The resulting press exhibits the shape, markings, and other anomalies of the press used by Grandin (aside from the bright BYU-I blue color). Minus a few minor "improvements" for strength, the press on display holds all the original charm of the press E.B. Grandin used in the 1820s. 

Visitors can learn about the process of printing the Book of Mormon through a first-hand experience with the original press

Visit

Visit the Iron Acorn Press in MCK 249 of the library. Once a month, the Iron Acorn Press hosts an Open Print Day. Visitors can use the Press to print a souvenir page.

Contact

To set up a more formal instruction and engagement with the press, contact Sam Nielson

• Phone: (208) 496-9535
• Email: nielsons@byui.edu

Appointments can also be made for

• -School classes
• -Home Evening groups
• -Reunions
• -Church groups
• -Scout troops
• -Families, etc.