Following this appointment, Francis D. Nichol called him to the Review and Herald Publishing Association to commence work on the new "Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary". The pair arrived in Takoma Park, Maryland in late September 1952, and Cottrell began work on the Commentary on October 1. (Elizabeth worked in the Review Book Billing Department until her retirement in 1977.) During the next five years, Cottrell reported he spent over 15,000 hours studying the Bible, covering every verse. As well as holding the position of associate editor, Cottrell also contributed 2,000 pages to the series, the third largest number of manuscript pages of any author. Yet including his editorial work he probably had more input than any other writer into the "Commentary".