Luther Howard and E. B. Grandin had a partnership in the bindery on the second floor of the Grandin Building. After the Book of Mormon was printed, Luther was responsible for folding forms, sewing them into signatures, and binding them together in hard-cover volumes. Luther was the state lottery agent for the Palmyra area. He sold lottery tickets. He sued E. B. Grandin for money owed him for binding the Book of Mormon.
Part of the problems between Luther and E. B. Grandin may have stemmed from E. B. Grandin publishing a pro-Masonic paper, the Wayne Sentinel. It is possible that Luther received copies of the Book of Mormon in trade for his services.[1] On March 30, 1830, Abner Cole printed in the Reflector, “[Howard] advocates the ‘Gold Bible.’”[2]
Luther dissolved his partnership with E. B. Grandin and moved his bindery to the third story of the Beckwith and Anderson’s Brick Block. His bindery was over the Beckwith and Leech store. He took out bankruptcy in the summer of 1831. In July 1831, E. B. Grandin purchased the binding equipment, along with stacks of Book of Mormon signatures from Luther. Luther later became the editor of an anti-Masonic newspaper in Palmyra, the Western Spectator and Public Advertiser. This newspaper commenced publishing on June 9, 1830. By April 19, 1831, Luther changed the name of the paper to Spectator and Anti-Masonic Star.
[1] Black and Black, “Exhibit Guide: Book of Mormon Historic Site,” pp. 42, 44; MacKay and Dirkmatt, From Darkness unto Light, pp. 195, 215; Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, 2:225; “Part 2: April 1829–March 1830,” Joseph Smith Papers.
[2] The Reflector, March 16, 1830.