Alphonso Wetmore writes that Joseph's translation was a farce done with marble spectacles strapped to his head with leather in a closet.
Alphonso Wetmore, Gazeteer of the State of Missouri (St. Louis: C. Keemle, 1837), 94
This book, leaf by leaf, Joe Smith, by aid of inspiration, read to a friend, “who held the pen of a ready writer,” and it was written out in dull, drawling, oriental style. The reader could only translate and read these golden tablets with the aid of a pair of marble spectacles, strapped to his head with thongs of leather; and this part of the solemn farce was performed in a closet, from which much of the light of heaven was excluded.