The printer’s manuscript lacks the conjunction and between the numbers twenty and six. Conjoined numbers in the Book of Mormon text almost always have the and between every pair in number conjuncts, unlike modern English. The 1830 reading, with the and, is very likely correct here in Mormon 2:2 since otherwise this part of the Book of Mormon text consistently has the and ’s between the numbers; there are, for instance, 19 other examples in Mormon alone, and all of them have the and, including these examples involving years:
The exceptional cases are all earlier in the text:
Finally, we have considerable evidence that scribe 2 of 𝓟 frequently omitted the conjunction and. For a list of his omissions of and, see under Alma 12:8. Thus evidence fro m both usage and scribal practice indicates that the original text here in Mormon 2:2 had the and between the numbers twenty and six. The critical text will therefore maintain the current reading here.
Summary: Maintain in Mormon 2:2 the and in the phrase “twenty and six years”, the reading of the 1830 edition; it appears that scribe 2 of 𝓟 accidentally omitted the and between these two numbers when he copied the text from 𝓞 into 𝓟.