Impressed by the Printing Press

Last Tuesday I had the opportunity to visit the Crandall Historical Printing Press Museum. It was a very neat experience. The way they presented the history of the printing press--from the perspective of those who have the restored Gospel--really helps you understand how momentous it all is. The fact that Johannes Gutenberg was able to print bibles and other books in mass amounts is amazing. What was really telling though, was the fact that the printers themselves were somewhat dumbfounded as how the Book of Mormon was printed so fast and effectively. I don't have any experience with printing and only got a small glimpse there, but those men had been working with it since they were 14 and it still amazes them, and that, in turn amazes me.

For those of you that didn't get to go, I'll outline the events leading up to the restoration of the Gospel that they talked about in this museum visit.
1439- Johannes Gutenberg invents the printing press allowing for the mass production of books and significantly decreasing the cost of books.
1821- Smith Improved Printing Press invented by Peter Smith is first released for sale. This was the most up-to-date press available at the time the Book of Mormon was first published.
1825- The Erie Canal is opened up, which allowed the heavy printing press to be brought right to the back step of E. B. Grandin's printing shop.
1827- E. B. Grandin purchases the printing press and office of the Wayne Sentinel where he had been an apprentice.
1829-E. B. Grandin agrees to print the Book of Mormon after initially refusing and begins printing in September.
March 1830- The printing and binding of the 1st 5000 books is completed in only 7 months time.

I don't know what to believe as far as how all this got done, but I know that the hand of the Lord had to be in it, because it is his work. I know that the Book of Mormon was not written by Joseph Smith or any of his contemporaries and I know that somehow a way was provided for the fulness of the Gospel of Christ to be restored in April of 1830.