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43990395
Doctrine and Covenants, 1835
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[p. 160]
Even before JS learned in August 1833 that the Latter-day Saint printing office in
Independence, Missouri, had been destroyed a few weeks earlier, plans were under way
in Kirtland, Ohio, to obtain an additional press to print JS’s newly completed Bible revision
manuscript and other works.1
After word of the destruction of the printing office
reached Ohio, members of the United Firm—an organization set up to oversee various
businesses within the church—resolved to take temporary responsibility for printing materials
for the church until the Missouri press could resume operation.2
In accordance with
that decision, members of the United Firm established a press operated by F. G. Williams
& Co., whose responsibilities included publishing The Evening and the Morning Star until
it could be “transfered to its former Location” (Missouri) and launching a second newspaper
to be titled Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate.3
Frederick G. Williams, a member
of the United Firm, also believed that the Book of Commandments would “probably be
reprinted” in Ohio.4
JS revelations, dated 20 July and 1 Aug. 1831, directed establishment of LDS church’s first printing office in Independence, Missouri. Dedicated by Bishop Edward Partridge, 29 May 1832. Located on Lot 76, on Liberty Street just south of courthouse square....
More InfoLocated twelve miles from western Missouri border. Permanently settled, platted, and designated county seat, 1827. Hub for steamboat travel on Missouri River. Point of departure for Santa Fe Trail. Population in 1831 about 300. Mormon population by summer...
More InfoLocated ten miles south of Lake Erie. Settled by 1811. Organized by 1818. Population in 1830 about 55 Latter-day Saints and 1,000 others; in 1838 about 2,000 Saints and 1,200 others; in 1839 about 100 Saints and 1,500 others. Mormon missionaries visited township...
More InfoOliver Cowdery with JS postscript, Kirtland Mills, OH, to [William W. Phelps] et al., [Independence, MO], 10 Aug. 1833, CHL; Revelation, 2 Aug. 1833–B, in Doctrine and Covenants 83:3, 1835 ed. [D&C
94:10]; JS et al., Kirtland, OH, to Edward Partridge et al., Independence, MO, 25 June 1833, JS Collection, CHL.
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Cowdery, Oliver. Letter with Joseph Smith postscript, Kirtland Mills, OH, to [William W. Phelps, John Whitmer, Edward Partridge, Isaac Morley, John Corrill, and Sidney Gilbert], [Independence, MO], 10 Aug. 1833. CHL.
Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).
Smith, Joseph. Collection, 1827–1846. CHL.
French explored area, 1669. British took possession following French and Indian War, 1763. Ceded to U.S., 1783. First permanent white settlement established, 1788. Partitioned from Northwest Territory and admitted as state, 1803. Bordered by Lake Erie on ...
More InfoArea acquired by U.S. in Louisiana Purchase, 1803, and established as territory, 1812. Missouri Compromise, 1820, admitted Missouri as slave state, 1821. Population in 1830 about 140,000; in 1836 about 240,000; and in 1840 about 380,000. Mormon missionaries...
More InfoMinute Book 1, 11 Sept. 1833. For more information on the United Firm, see Parkin, “Joseph Smith and the United Firm.”
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Minute Book 1 / “Conference A,” 1832–1837. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.
Parkin, Max H. “Joseph Smith and the United Firm: The Growth and Decline of the Church’s First Master Plan of Business and Finance, Ohio and Missouri, 1832–1834.” BYU Studies 46, no. 3 (2007): 5–66.
Minute Book 1, 11 Sept. 1833. Despite early expectations, Mormon printing operations at
Independence never resumed, and the Star finished its print run in Ohio. Publication of the Messenger and
Advocate was postponed until October 1834, when the Star’s second volume was complete.
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Minute Book 1 / “Conference A,” 1832–1837. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.
28 Oct. 1787–10 Oct. 1842. Ship’s pilot, teacher, physician, justice of the peace. Born at Suffield, Hartford Co., Connecticut. Son of William Wheeler Williams and Ruth Granger. Moved to Newburg, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, 1799. Practiced Thomsonian botanical system...
View Full BioFrederick G. Williams, Kirtland, OH, to John Murdock, 10 Oct. 1833, in JS Letterbook 1, pp. 62.
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JS Letterbook 1 / Smith, Joseph. “Letter Book A,” 1832–1835. Joseph Smith Collection. CHL.
In fall 1833, Oliver Cowdery purchased a printing press from White, Hagar & Co.
of New York City for 190 dollars and type from Nathan Lyman of Albany for 360 dollars
and had the new equipment shipped to Kirtland.5
That December, JS and other leaders dedicated the press, which was initially housed on the second story of a brick building the
church had recently acquired from Peter French.6
The press soon published two broadsheets
and a broadside containing the texts of four revelations, foreshadowing its important role
in making the revelations widely available.7
3 Oct. 1806–3 Mar. 1850. Clerk, teacher, justice of the peace, lawyer, newspaper editor. Born at Wells, Rutland Co., Vermont. Son of William Cowdery and Rebecca Fuller. Raised Congregationalist. Moved to western New York and clerked at a store, ca. 1825–1828...
View Full BioDutch founded New Netherland colony, 1625. Incorporated under British control and renamed New York, 1664. Harbor contributed to economic and population growth of city; became largest city in American colonies. British troops defeated Continental Army under...
More InfoState capital and county seat, located in eastern-central part of state on west bank of Hudson River. Area settled by Dutch, 1612. Known as Fort Orange and Beaver Wyck, 1623; name changed to Williamstadt, 1647. Capitulated to English forces, 1664, and renamed...
More InfoLocated ten miles south of Lake Erie. Settled by 1811. Organized by 1818. Population in 1830 about 55 Latter-day Saints and 1,000 others; in 1838 about 2,000 Saints and 1,200 others; in 1839 about 100 Saints and 1,500 others. Mormon missionaries visited township...
More InfoF. G. Williams and Company, Account Book, 1; JS, Kirtland, OH, to Edward Partridge et al., Clay Co., MO, 30 Mar. 1834, in Cowdery, Letterbook, 30–36. Nathan Lyman learned the practice of typefoundry
from Elihu White of White, Hagar & Co., suggesting that either Lyman or White recommended
the other to Cowdery. By the end of October 1833, Cowdery had arrived in Kirtland, but the
press and type had not. The press and type were ready for service at least by 6 December 1833 but may
have been ready as early as 12 November, when Cowdery was “making arrangements for printing.” (De Vinne, Practice of Typography, 104; Oliver Cowdery, Kirtland Mills, OH, to Ambrose Palmer, New Portage, OH, 30 Oct. 1833, in Cowdery, Letterbook, 4–5; JS Journal, 4–6 Dec. 1833, in JSP, J1:20; Oliver Cowdery, Kirtland Mills, OH, to Samuel Bent, [Michigan Territory], 12 Nov. 1833, in Cowdery, Letterbook, 9.)
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F. G. Williams and Company. Account Book, 1833–1835. CHL.
Cowdery, Oliver. Letterbook, 1833–1838. Henry E. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.
De Vinne, Theodore Low. The Practice of Typography: A Treatise on the Processes of Type-Making, the Point System, the Names, Sizes, Styles, and Prices of Plain Printing Types. New York: Century, 1900.
JSP, J1 / Jessee, Dean C., Mark Ashurst-McGee, and Richard L. Jensen, eds. Journals, Volume 1: 1832–1839. Vol. 1 of the Journals series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman. Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2008.
JS, Journal, 18 Dec. 1833, in JSP, J1:21–24; see also Parkin, “Joseph Smith and the United Firm,” 32.
This brick building was located in the “flats,” or lowlands, on the north end of Kirtland. The printing
establishment moved south to a second location, the second story of the newly completed schoolhouse
immediately west of the House of the Lord, before work on the Doctrine and Covenants commenced—likely in late 1834. (Oliver Cowdery, Kirtland, OH, to William W. Phelps and John Whitmer, Clay Co., MO, 21 Jan. 1834, in Cowdery, Letterbook, 22; Frederick G. Williams, Kirtland, OH, to “Dear brethren,”
10 Oct. 1833, in JS Letterbook 1, pp. 56–60; Revelation, 23 Apr. 1834, in Revelation Book 1, p. 194, in JSP,
MRB:365 [D&C 104:28]; Minute Book 1, 11 Aug. 1834; Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1844–1845, bk. 13,
[10]–[11]; Notice, LDS Messenger and Advocate, Oct. 1834, 1:11.)
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JSP, J1 / Jessee, Dean C., Mark Ashurst-McGee, and Richard L. Jensen, eds. Journals, Volume 1: 1832–1839. Vol. 1 of the Journals series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman. Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2008.
Parkin, Max H. “Joseph Smith and the United Firm: The Growth and Decline of the Church’s First Master Plan of Business and Finance, Ohio and Missouri, 1832–1834.” BYU Studies 46, no. 3 (2007): 5–66.
Cowdery, Oliver. Letterbook, 1833–1838. Henry E. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.
JS Letterbook 1 / Smith, Joseph. “Letter Book A,” 1832–1835. Joseph Smith Collection. CHL.
Revelation Book 1 / “A Book of Commandments and Revelations of the Lord Given to Joseph the Seer and Others by the Inspiration of God and Gift and Power of the Holy Ghost Which Beareth Re[c]ord of the Father and Son and Holy Ghost Which Is One God Infinite and Eternal World without End Amen,” 1831–1835. CHL. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Robert J. Woodford, and Steven C. Harper, eds., Manuscript Revelation Books, facsimile edition, first volume of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2009).
Minute Book 1 / “Conference A,” 1832–1837. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.
Smith, Lucy Mack. History, 1844–1845. 18 books. CHL. Also available in Lavina Fielding Anderson, ed., Lucy’s Book: A Critical Edition of Lucy Mack Smith’s Family Memoir (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2001).
Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.
Verily, I say unto you, concerning your brethren who have been afflicted, [Kirtland, OH: ca. Jan. 1834],
copy at CHL [D&C 101]; Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you, who have assembled yourselves together,
[Kirtland, OH: ca. Jan. 1834], copy at BYU [D&C 88–89]; Behold, blessed saith the Lord, are they who have come up unto this land, [Kirtland, OH: ca. Jan. 1834], copy at CHL [D&C 59].
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Verily, I say unto you, concerning your brethren who have been afflicted [D&C 101]. [Kirtland, OH: ca. Jan. 1834]. Copy at CHL.
Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you, who have assembled yourselves together [D&C 88–89]. [Kirtland, OH: ca. Jan. 1834]. Copy at BYU.
Behold, blessed saith the Lord, are they who have come up unto this land [D&C 59]. [Kirtland, OH: ca. Jan. 1834]. Copy at CHL.
Though church leaders considered the publication of the revelations to be a priority,
other matters delayed the work. In the late winter and early spring of 1834, most Ohio
church leaders were occupied preparing for the Camp of Israel expedition to Missouri (later
known as Zion’s Camp). Traveling together in mid-April, not long before the expedition
departed, JS, Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and early church member Zebedee Coltrin paused
to give one another blessings for their individual responsibilities. JS was blessed to lead the
upcoming expedition, while Rigdon and Cowdery were blessed with divine assistance “in
arranging the church covenants which are to be soon published.”8
A revelation dictated by
JS shortly thereafter reemphasized the plan to print the newly revealed word of God: “for
this purpose have I commanded you to organize yourselves, even to print my word, the
fullness of my Scriptures, the revelations which I have given unto you, and which I shall
hereafter, from time to time, give unto you.”9
Though Oliver Cowdery and Sidney Rigdon
remained in Kirtland while JS and others marched to Missouri, they had to manage church
operations in addition to printing The Evening and the Morning Star, leaving little time to
advance work on the revelations.
French explored area, 1669. British took possession following French and Indian War, 1763. Ceded to U.S., 1783. First permanent white settlement established, 1788. Partitioned from Northwest Territory and admitted as state, 1803. Bordered by Lake Erie on ...
More InfoArea acquired by U.S. in Louisiana Purchase, 1803, and established as territory, 1812. Missouri Compromise, 1820, admitted Missouri as slave state, 1821. Population in 1830 about 140,000; in 1836 about 240,000; and in 1840 about 380,000. Mormon missionaries...
More Info3 Oct. 1806–3 Mar. 1850. Clerk, teacher, justice of the peace, lawyer, newspaper editor. Born at Wells, Rutland Co., Vermont. Son of William Cowdery and Rebecca Fuller. Raised Congregationalist. Moved to western New York and clerked at a store, ca. 1825–1828...
View Full Bio19 Feb. 1793–14 July 1876. Tanner, farmer, minister. Born at St. Clair, Allegheny Co., Pennsylvania. Son of William Rigdon and Nancy Gallaher. Joined United Baptists, ca. 1818. Preached at Warren, Trumbull Co., Ohio, and vicinity, 1819–1821. Married Phebe...
View Full Bio7 Sept. 1804–21 July 1887. Born at Ovid, Seneca Co., New York. Son of John Coltrin and Sarah Graham. Member of Methodist church. Married first Julia Ann Jennings, Oct. 1828. Baptized into LDS church by Solomon Hancock, 9 Jan. 1831, at Strongsville, Cuyahoga...
View Full BioJS, Journal, 18–19 Apr. 1834, in JSP, J1:41.
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JSP, J1 / Jessee, Dean C., Mark Ashurst-McGee, and Richard L. Jensen, eds. Journals, Volume 1: 1832–1839. Vol. 1 of the Journals series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman. Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2008.
Revelation, 23 Apr. 1834, in Revelation Book 2, p. 105, in JSP, MRB:627 [D&C 104:58].
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Revelation Book 2 / “Book of Revelations,” 1832–1834. Revelations Collection, 1831–ca. 1844, 1847, 1861, ca. 1876. CHL. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Robert J. Woodford, and Steven C. Harper, eds., Manuscript Revelation Books, facsimile edition, first volume of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2009).
Located ten miles south of Lake Erie. Settled by 1811. Organized by 1818. Population in 1830 about 55 Latter-day Saints and 1,000 others; in 1838 about 2,000 Saints and 1,200 others; in 1839 about 100 Saints and 1,500 others. Mormon missionaries visited township...
More InfoWhen JS returned from Missouri to Ohio in August 1834, focus again turned to publishing
the revelations. In September the Kirtland high council appointed a committee
consisting of JS, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams to publish a
work “arrange[d from] the items of the doctrine of Jesus Christ.” This committee was
assigned to draw “from the bible, book of mormon, and the revelations which have been
given to the church up to this date.”10
While a single volume containing excerpts from the
Bible, Book of Mormon, and revelation texts was the original intention, the concept was later modified. As the bipartite title “Doctrine and Covenants” suggests, the new book was
made up of two parts. The first part, on “the doctrine of the church,”11
comprised a series of
seven doctrinal lectures on the subject of faith, first prepared as a course of instruction for
the School of the Elders held in the second Kirtland printing office in the winter of 1834–1835.12
Lecture one was contemporaneously published as a broadside and lectures five and six
were published in the May 1835 issue of the Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate,13
but
there is no known manuscript copy of any of the lectures. Although no JS-era published
version states who authored the lectures, they were traditionally attributed to JS. Modern
scholars, however, largely agree that Rigdon authored most or all of the lectures.14
Area acquired by U.S. in Louisiana Purchase, 1803, and established as territory, 1812. Missouri Compromise, 1820, admitted Missouri as slave state, 1821. Population in 1830 about 140,000; in 1836 about 240,000; and in 1840 about 380,000. Mormon missionaries...
More InfoFrench explored area, 1669. British took possession following French and Indian War, 1763. Ceded to U.S., 1783. First permanent white settlement established, 1788. Partitioned from Northwest Territory and admitted as state, 1803. Bordered by Lake Erie on ...
More InfoLocated ten miles south of Lake Erie. Settled by 1811. Organized by 1818. Population in 1830 about 55 Latter-day Saints and 1,000 others; in 1838 about 2,000 Saints and 1,200 others; in 1839 about 100 Saints and 1,500 others. Mormon missionaries visited township...
More Info3 Oct. 1806–3 Mar. 1850. Clerk, teacher, justice of the peace, lawyer, newspaper editor. Born at Wells, Rutland Co., Vermont. Son of William Cowdery and Rebecca Fuller. Raised Congregationalist. Moved to western New York and clerked at a store, ca. 1825–1828...
View Full Bio19 Feb. 1793–14 July 1876. Tanner, farmer, minister. Born at St. Clair, Allegheny Co., Pennsylvania. Son of William Rigdon and Nancy Gallaher. Joined United Baptists, ca. 1818. Preached at Warren, Trumbull Co., Ohio, and vicinity, 1819–1821. Married Phebe...
View Full Bio28 Oct. 1787–10 Oct. 1842. Ship’s pilot, teacher, physician, justice of the peace. Born at Suffield, Hartford Co., Connecticut. Son of William Wheeler Williams and Ruth Granger. Moved to Newburg, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, 1799. Practiced Thomsonian botanical system...
View Full BioMinute Book 1, 24 Sept. 1834.
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Minute Book 1 / “Conference A,” 1832–1837. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.
Doctrine and Covenants, 1835 ed., [5].
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Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).
Following destruction of church printing office in Independence, Missouri, July 1833, JS and other church leaders determined to set up new printing office in Kirtland under firm name F. G. Williams & Co. Oliver Cowdery purchased new printing press in New ...
More InfoEditorial, LDS Messenger and Advocate, May 1835, 1:122; see also JS History, vol. B-1, 557–558, 562–
563; and Dahl, “Authorship and History of the Lectures on Faith,” 12–13.
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Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.
JS History / Smith, Joseph, et al. History, 1838–1856. Vols. A-1–F-1 (original), A-2–E-2 (fair copy). CHL. The history for the period after 5 Aug. 1838 was composed after the death of Joseph Smith.
Dahl, Larry E. “Authorship and History of the Lectures on Faith.” In The Lectures on Faith in Historical Perspective, edited by Larry E. Dahl and Charles D. Tate Jr., 1–21. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1990.
Theology. Lecture First, [Kirtland, OH: ca. Feb. 1835], copy at CHL; “Lecture Fifth” and “Lecture Sixth,” LDS Messenger and Advocate, May 1835, 1:122–126. Both versions of the first lecture appear to use
the same typesetting, as indicated by identical placement of a few pieces of broken type and by the fact
that the width of each of the three columns of text on the broadsheet matches the width of the text in the
1835 Doctrine and Covenants. Corrections and additions to the Doctrine and Covenants version indicate
that the broadsheet version was set in type first. Lectures five and six were retypeset for publication in the
Messenger and Advocate after they had already been typeset for the Doctrine and Covenants.
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Theology. Lecture First. [Kirtland, OH: ca. Feb. 1835]. Copy at CHL.
Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.
See, for example, Reynolds, “The Case for Sidney Rigdon as Author of the Lectures on Faith.”;
Reynolds, “Authorship Debate Concerning Lectures on Faith,”; Partridge, Notes on the Authorship of the Lectures on Faith,; and Phipps, “Lectures on Faith: An Authorship Study.”
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Reynolds, Noel B. “The Case for Sidney Rigdon as Author of the Lectures on Faith.” Journal of Mormon History 32 (Fall 2005): 1–41.
Reynolds, Noel B. “The Authorship Debate concerning Lectures on Faith: Exhumation and Reburial.” In The Disciple as Witness: Essays on Latter-day Saint History and Doctrine in Honor of Richard Lloyd Anderson, edited by Stephen D. Ricks, Donald W. Parry, and Andrew H. Hedges, 355–382. Provo, UT: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 2000.
Partridge, Elinore H. Characteristics of Joseph Smith’s Style and Notes on the Authorship of the Lectures on Faith. Task Papers in LDS History 14. Salt Lake City: History Division, Historical Department, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1976.
Phipps, Alan J. “The Lectures on Faith: An Authorship Study.” Master’s thesis, Brigham Young University, 1977.
The second part of the Doctrine and Covenants contained the “covenants and commandments
of the Lord,”15
or revelations. Inasmuch as the revelations made up the majority
of the volume and the volume’s title indicated that the texts therein were “carefully selected
from the revelations of God,” it is curious that the revelations were placed in the second
part of the book. The sequence of the book’s two parts may have resulted from the order in
which materials were ready to be typeset. Regardless, the revelations were considered to be
of paramount importance, and the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants was the most important
collection of revelations published to that point. It presented more revelations than the
incomplete Book of Commandments and presented some previously published revelations
in expanded form.
Doctrine and Covenants, 1835 ed., [75].
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Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).
The major work of printing the revelations in Ohio actually began in January 1835 with
the publication of the newspaper Evening and Morning Star, a reprint of The Evening and
the Morning Star. The earlier newspaper had published twenty-six full or partial revelation
texts in its first thirteen issues. Of those, thirteen appeared in the reprinted Star before they
were available to the public in the Doctrine and Covenants. Though the prospectus for the
reprinted Star announced the new paper would merely correct “errors” in the revelations
that had resulted from “transcribing manuscript,”16
in fact the editors of the reprint made
significant changes to the revelation texts—changes that were generally maintained when
those texts were republished in the Doctrine and Covenants.
French explored area, 1669. British took possession following French and Indian War, 1763. Ceded to U.S., 1783. First permanent white settlement established, 1788. Partitioned from Northwest Territory and admitted as state, 1803. Bordered by Lake Erie on ...
More Info“Prospectus,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Sept. 1834, 192; see also Notice, Evening and
Morning Star, June 1832 (Jan. 1835), 16.
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The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.
Evening and Morning Star. Edited reprint of The Evening and the Morning Star. Kirtland, OH. Jan. 1835–Oct. 1836.
John Whitmer and William W. Phelps arrived in Kirtland in May 1835.17
Their arrival
significantly alleviated the heavy workload at the Kirtland printing office, which was printing
the Messenger and Advocate and other miscellaneous publications in addition to Evening
and Morning Star. Whitmer was appointed editor of the Messenger and Advocate and Phelps,
who had been the printer for the Book of Commandments, lent his hand to work on the
Doctrine and Covenants.18
By this time, some half-dozen individuals, in addition to Phelps
and Whitmer, worked in the printing office: foreman James Carrell was assisted by Don
Carlos Smith, Ebenezer Robinson, Solomon Wilbur Denton, and Samuel Brannan.19
Robinson’s reminiscences indicate that Oliver Cowdery managed the business of the printing
establishment.20
Apart from Cowdery, Phelps, and Whitmer, these individuals were
printing hands who likely had little to do with the composition, structure, or intellectual
work of the Doctrine and Covenants. In addition to serving on the publication committee
for the volume, JS solicited financial help for printing, helped secure the copyright, and
signed the preface. He is listed on the title page, but his role in the day-to-day work of preparing
the revelations for publication is not fully known.21
Some corrections in his hand
that are reflected in the Doctrine and Covenants are found on revelations in Revelation
Books 1 and 2,22
and three notations in Revelation Book 2 indicate that he did at least some
of the work of selecting items for publication.23
JS apparently relied on others to do the
actual typesetting and printing and possibly the bulk of the editing, arranging, and other
intellectual work needed to prepare the revelations for print.24
27 Aug. 1802–11 July 1878. Farmer, stock raiser, newspaper editor. Born in Pennsylvania. Son of Peter Whitmer Sr. and Mary Musselman. Member of German Reformed Church, Fayette, Seneca Co., New York. Baptized by Oliver Cowdery, June 1829, most likely in Seneca...
View Full Bio17 Feb. 1792–7 Mar. 1872. Writer, teacher, printer, newspaper editor, publisher, postmaster, lawyer. Born at Hanover, Morris Co., New Jersey. Son of Enon Phelps and Mehitabel Goldsmith. Moved to Homer, Cortland Co., New York, 1800. Married Sally Waterman,...
View Full BioLocated ten miles south of Lake Erie. Settled by 1811. Organized by 1818. Population in 1830 about 55 Latter-day Saints and 1,000 others; in 1838 about 2,000 Saints and 1,200 others; in 1839 about 100 Saints and 1,500 others. Mormon missionaries visited township...
More InfoPhelps, Diary and Notebook, 16 May 1835; Whitmer, Daybook, 16 May 1835.
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Phelps, William W. Diary and Notebook, ca. 1835–1836, 1843, 1864. CHL.
Whitmer, John. Daybook, 1832–1878. CHL.
Following destruction of church printing office in Independence, Missouri, July 1833, JS and other church leaders determined to set up new printing office in Kirtland under firm name F. G. Williams & Co. Oliver Cowdery purchased new printing press in New ...
More InfoOliver Cowdery, “Address,” LDS Messenger and Advocate, May 1835, 1:120–122; Whitmer, Daybook, 18 May 1835.
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Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.
Whitmer, John. Daybook, 1832–1878. CHL.
25 Mar. 1816–7 Aug. 1841. Farmer, printer, editor. Born at Norwich, Windsor Co., Vermont. Son of Joseph Smith Sr. and Lucy Mack. Moved to Palmyra, Ontario Co., New York, 1816–Jan. 1817. Moved to Manchester, Ontario Co., 1825. Baptized into LDS church by David...
View Full Bio25 May 1816–11 Mar. 1891. Printer, editor, publisher. Born at Floyd (near Rome), Oneida Co., New York. Son of Nathan Robinson and Mary Brown. Moved to Utica, Oneida Co., ca. 1831, and learned printing trade at Utica Observer. Moved to Ravenna, Portage Co....
View Full Bio2 Mar. 1819–5 May 1889. Printer, editor, publisher, miner, businessman, land developer. Born at Saco, York Co., Maine. Son of Thomas Brannan and Sarah Emery. Moved to Kirtland, Geauga Co., Ohio, 1833. Baptized into LDS church, 1833, in Kirtland. Printer’s...
View Full BioEbenezer Robinson, “Items of Personal History of the Editor,” The Return, Apr. 1889, 58; July 1889,
104. On 14 November 1835, after the Doctrine and Covenants was published, Phelps wrote to his wife:
“We have, when all are in the office, three apprentices and four journeymen, and we shall have to employ
some more men, as our work is so far behind.” (William W. Phelps, Kirtland, OH, to Sally Phelps, Liberty, MO, 14 Nov. 1835, in Historical Department, Journal History of the Church, 14 Nov. 1835, CHL.)
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The Return. Davis City, IA, 1889–1891; Richmond, MO, 1892–1893; Davis City, 1895–1896; Denver, 1898; Independence, MO, 1899–1900.
Phelps, William W. Letter, Kirtland, OH, to Sally Phelps, Liberty, MO, 14 Nov. 1835. In Historical Department, Journal History of the Church, 1896–. CHL.
3 Oct. 1806–3 Mar. 1850. Clerk, teacher, justice of the peace, lawyer, newspaper editor. Born at Wells, Rutland Co., Vermont. Son of William Cowdery and Rebecca Fuller. Raised Congregationalist. Moved to western New York and clerked at a store, ca. 1825–1828...
View Full BioEbenezer Robinson, “Items of Personal History of the Editor,” The Return, May 1889, 75.
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The Return. Davis City, IA, 1889–1891; Richmond, MO, 1892–1893; Davis City, 1895–1896; Denver, 1898; Independence, MO, 1899–1900.
JS, Kirtland, OH, to “Dear brethren,” [Missouri], 15 June 1835, JS Collection, CHL; Copyright for first edition of Doctrine and Covenants, 14 Jan. 1835, Copyright Records, Ohio, 1831–1848 (Department of State), unnumbered vol., Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress, Washington DC; title page and “Preface,” Doctrine and Covenants, 1835 ed., [i], [iii]–iv.
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Smith, Joseph. Collection, 1827–1846. CHL.
Copyright for first edition of Doctrine and Covenants, 14 Jan. 1835. Copyright Records, Ohio, 1831–1848 (Department of State). Unnumbered vol. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress, Washington DC.
Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).
See, for example, Revelation Book 1, pp. 194–198, in JSP, MRB:365–373, and Revelation Book 2,
pp. 20–25, 28–31, in JSP, MRB:453–461, 469–475.
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Revelation Book 1 / “A Book of Commandments and Revelations of the Lord Given to Joseph the Seer and Others by the Inspiration of God and Gift and Power of the Holy Ghost Which Beareth Re[c]ord of the Father and Son and Holy Ghost Which Is One God Infinite and Eternal World without End Amen,” 1831–1835. CHL. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Robert J. Woodford, and Steven C. Harper, eds., Manuscript Revelation Books, facsimile edition, first volume of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2009).
Revelation Book 2 / “Book of Revelations,” 1832–1834. Revelations Collection, 1831–ca. 1844, 1847, 1861, ca. 1876. CHL. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Robert J. Woodford, and Steven C. Harper, eds., Manuscript Revelation Books, facsimile edition, first volume of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2009).
Revelation Book 2, pp. 20, 31, 111, in JSP, MRB:453, 475, 639.
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Revelation Book 2 / “Book of Revelations,” 1832–1834. Revelations Collection, 1831–ca. 1844, 1847, 1861, ca. 1876. CHL. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Robert J. Woodford, and Steven C. Harper, eds., Manuscript Revelation Books, facsimile edition, first volume of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2009).
For example, it appears that Oliver Cowdery did much of the work of identifying which items would appear at the beginning of the second part of the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants.
The committee who selected items for publication drew on both manuscript and
printed sources. When an item had already been printed, such as the sixty-four revelations
or other items printed in full in the Book of Commandments, corrections or changes were
sometimes made on a copy of the printed version. A
copy of the Book of Commandments once owned by Oliver Cowdery contains editing
marks made in preparation for the publication of the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants.25 When a revelation had not been printed before, the editors turned to manuscript sources,
the most authoritative and commonly used of which were Revelation Books 1 and 2.26
As
with the 1832–1833 printing effort in Missouri, the printers may have recopied some texts in
order to provide clean copies for typesetting.
3 Oct. 1806–3 Mar. 1850. Clerk, teacher, justice of the peace, lawyer, newspaper editor. Born at Wells, Rutland Co., Vermont. Son of William Cowdery and Rebecca Fuller. Raised Congregationalist. Moved to western New York and clerked at a store, ca. 1825–1828...
View Full BioSimilar editing work was probably done on some of the revelations published in early issues of The Evening and the Morning Star, though no such marked-up copies have been located.
The later pages of Revelation Book 2 possibly reflect an attempt to collect and copy previously
unpublished revelations into a single source. (See JSP, MRB:409–410.)
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JSP, MRB / Jensen, Robin Scott, Robert J. Woodford, and Steven C. Harper, eds. Manuscript Revelation Books. Facsimile edition. First volume of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman. Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2009.
Area acquired by U.S. in Louisiana Purchase, 1803, and established as territory, 1812. Missouri Compromise, 1820, admitted Missouri as slave state, 1821. Population in 1830 about 140,000; in 1836 about 240,000; and in 1840 about 380,000. Mormon missionaries...
More InfoAs had been the case with editorial work on the Book of Commandments, the editors
of the Doctrine and Covenants made numerous copyediting changes to many of the revelations
as well as a smaller number of substantive changes. In contrast with the earlier work,
however, the editors of the Doctrine and Covenants also made a focused effort to update
the revelations to reflect changes in church government, structure, and doctrine that had
occurred since the revelations were first dictated. For example, the earliest extant version of
a 9 February 1831 revelation describes certain duties of elders, priests, teachers, and bishops.27
Naturally, early versions of the revelation made no mention of the office of high
priest, which did not exist until June 1831,28
or of the high council, a body that was not
organized until February 1834.29
For publication in 1835, the revelation was revised to reflect
the role of high priests and the high council.30
Revelation, 9 Feb. 1831, in Revelation Book 1, pp. 62–67, in JSP, MRB:95–105 [D&C 42:1–72].
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Revelation Book 1 / “A Book of Commandments and Revelations of the Lord Given to Joseph the Seer and Others by the Inspiration of God and Gift and Power of the Holy Ghost Which Beareth Re[c]ord of the Father and Son and Holy Ghost Which Is One God Infinite and Eternal World without End Amen,” 1831–1835. CHL. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Robert J. Woodford, and Steven C. Harper, eds., Manuscript Revelation Books, facsimile edition, first volume of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2009).
See Minute Book 2, 3 June 1831.
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Minute Book 2 / “The Conference Minutes and Record Book of Christ’s Church of Latter Day Saints,” 1838, 1842, 1844. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.
Minute Book 1, 17 Feb. 1834; see also Minutes, 17 Feb. 1834, in Doctrine and Covenants 5, 1835 ed.
[D&C 102].
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Minute Book 1 / “Conference A,” 1832–1837. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.
Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).
These updates were first made when the revelation was published in Evening and Morning Star, July
1832 (Feb. 1835), 30–31. The same updates were then introduced into Doctrine and Covenants 13:8, 10, 19,
1835 ed. [D&C 42:31, 34, 71].
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Evening and Morning Star. Edited reprint of The Evening and the Morning Star. Kirtland, OH. Jan. 1835–Oct. 1836.
Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).
Extant sources permit the reconstruction of a rough chronology of the production of
the volume. In mid-January 1835, JS, Cowdery, Rigdon, and Williams registered the volume
for copyright in the United States District Court in Ohio.31
The dated preface to the
Doctrine and Covenants suggests that typesetting began shortly thereafter.32
By late May,
the first six gatherings (one-third of the volume’s total gatherings) were printed,33
taking the
work through page 96, which included the entire first part of the book and the first four
sections of the second part. The editors of the Messenger and Advocate optimistically promised
readers of the May 1835 issue that the Doctrine and Covenants would be completed soon.34
However, a 15 June letter from JS asking for donations or loans to help underwrite
the printing of the revelations suggests that financial difficulty may have delayed the completion
of the book.35
It appears that early, unfinished portions of the book circulated before
the book was bound and made widely available. In an epistle to the Twelve Apostles
dated 4 August 1835, JS referred to a revelation by its section and verse numbers in the new
publication, indicating that JS and evidently the Twelve had access to partial advance copies
of the Doctrine and Covenants.36
3 Oct. 1806–3 Mar. 1850. Clerk, teacher, justice of the peace, lawyer, newspaper editor. Born at Wells, Rutland Co., Vermont. Son of William Cowdery and Rebecca Fuller. Raised Congregationalist. Moved to western New York and clerked at a store, ca. 1825–1828...
View Full Bio19 Feb. 1793–14 July 1876. Tanner, farmer, minister. Born at St. Clair, Allegheny Co., Pennsylvania. Son of William Rigdon and Nancy Gallaher. Joined United Baptists, ca. 1818. Preached at Warren, Trumbull Co., Ohio, and vicinity, 1819–1821. Married Phebe...
View Full Bio28 Oct. 1787–10 Oct. 1842. Ship’s pilot, teacher, physician, justice of the peace. Born at Suffield, Hartford Co., Connecticut. Son of William Wheeler Williams and Ruth Granger. Moved to Newburg, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, 1799. Practiced Thomsonian botanical system...
View Full BioNorth American constitutional republic. Constitution ratified, 17 Sept. 1787. Population in 1805 about 6,000,000; in 1830 about 13,000,000; and in 1844 about 20,000,000. Louisiana Purchase, 1803, doubled size of U.S. Consisted of seventeen states at time ...
More InfoFrench explored area, 1669. British took possession following French and Indian War, 1763. Ceded to U.S., 1783. First permanent white settlement established, 1788. Partitioned from Northwest Territory and admitted as state, 1803. Bordered by Lake Erie on ...
More InfoCopyright for first edition of Doctrine and Covenants, 14 Jan. 1835, Copyright Records, Ohio, 1831–1848 (Department of State), unnumbered vol., Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress, Washington DC.
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Copyright for first edition of Doctrine and Covenants, 14 Jan. 1835. Copyright Records, Ohio, 1831–1848 (Department of State). Unnumbered vol. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress, Washington DC.
The preface is dated 17 February 1835. (“Preface,” Doctrine and Covenants, 1835 ed., [iii]–iv.)
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Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).
William W. Phelps, Kirtland, OH, to Sally Phelps, Liberty, MO, 26 May 1835, William W. Phelps, Papers, BYU. A notice in the fifth issue of Evening and Morning Star, printed sometime in June 1835,
apologized for publication delays caused by work on “a book of much importance.” As the fourth issue of
Evening and Morning Star was dated April 1835, significant work on the Doctrine and Covenants evidently
occurred between issues. (Notice, Evening and Morning Star, Oct. 1832 [June 1835], 80; Notice, Evening and Morning Star, Sept. 1832 [Apr. 1835], 64.)
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Phelps, William W. Papers, 1835–1865. BYU.
Evening and Morning Star. Edited reprint of The Evening and the Morning Star. Kirtland, OH. Jan. 1835–Oct. 1836.
Editorial, LDS Messenger and Advocate, May 1835, 1:122.
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Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.
JS, Kirtland, OH, to “Dear brethren,” [Missouri], 15 June 1835, JS Collection, CHL.
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Smith, Joseph. Collection, 1827–1846. CHL.
In counseling the Twelve regarding fundraising in branches of the church, JS stated: “We remind
you of these things, in the name of the Lord, and refer you to the book of covenants, 2nd. Section, 2nd.
part, and 12, paragraph and ask, did we not instruct you to remember first the house, secondly the cause
of Zion, and then the publishing the word to the Nations?” Though the extant version of the letter refers
to the “2nd” section of the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants, the third section was probably the intended
reference. (JS, Kirtland, OH, to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, 4 Aug. 1835, in JS Letterbook 1, p. 91.)
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JS Letterbook 1 / Smith, Joseph. “Letter Book A,” 1832–1835. Joseph Smith Collection. CHL.
On 17 August 1835, a general assembly of the church met “for the purpose of
Examining a book of commandments and covenants” that had been “compiled and written
by” the publication committee. “This Committee having finished said Book according to
the instructions given them,” the minutes read, “it was deemed necessary to call the general
assembly of the Church to see whether the book be approved or not by the authoroties of
the church, that it may, if approved, become a law unto the church, and a rule of faith and
practice unto the same.”37
Though the assembly was convened “by the presidency of the
Church,”38
JS and Frederick G. Williams, a member of the presidency, were in Michigan at
the time of the assembly.39
The responsibility of presenting the book to the conference
therefore fell to Oliver Cowdery, a member of both the presidency and the four-man publication
committee.40
Sidney Rigdon, the other presidency member and committee member
present, stood and “explained the manner by which they intended to obtain the voice of the
assembly for or against said book.”41
Voting on the book proceeded by quorums and
groups, with the leader of each group bearing witness of the truth of the volume before his
group voted to accept it. After the voting by quorums, the entire church membership present,
both male and female, voted to accept the book as “the doctrine and covenants of their
faith.”42
After the general assembly accepted the new publication, William W. Phelps read
an article on marriage that the assembly approved and added to the volume.43
The congregation
then voted to accept and add to the volume an article on government introduced by Oliver Cowdery.44
Besides the revelations and these additions, the finished volume also
contained a condensed and somewhat modified set of the minutes of this 17 August 1835
meeting, an “Index” (actually a table of contents in modern terms), a list of “Contents”
(actually an index), and a single page titled “Notes to the Reader” that contained errata.45
Minute Book 1, 17 Aug. 1835. The minutes were published in a condensed and somewhat modified
format as “General Assembly,” in LDS Messenger and Advocate, Aug. 1835, 1:161–164, and “General
Assembly,” in Doctrine and Covenants, 1835 ed., 255–257.
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Minute Book 1 / “Conference A,” 1832–1837. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.
Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.
Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).
Minute Book 1, 17 Aug. 1835.
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Minute Book 1 / “Conference A,” 1832–1837. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.
28 Oct. 1787–10 Oct. 1842. Ship’s pilot, teacher, physician, justice of the peace. Born at Suffield, Hartford Co., Connecticut. Son of William Wheeler Williams and Ruth Granger. Moved to Newburg, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, 1799. Practiced Thomsonian botanical system...
View Full BioOrganized as territory, 1805, with Detroit as capital. De facto state government organized within territory, 1836, although not formally recognized as state by federal government until 1837. Lansing became new state capital, 1847. Population in 1810 about...
More InfoJS History, vol. B-1, 600.
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JS History / Smith, Joseph, et al. History, 1838–1856. Vols. A-1–F-1 (original), A-2–E-2 (fair copy). CHL. The history for the period after 5 Aug. 1838 was composed after the death of Joseph Smith.
3 Oct. 1806–3 Mar. 1850. Clerk, teacher, justice of the peace, lawyer, newspaper editor. Born at Wells, Rutland Co., Vermont. Son of William Cowdery and Rebecca Fuller. Raised Congregationalist. Moved to western New York and clerked at a store, ca. 1825–1828...
View Full BioMinute Book 1, 17 Aug. 1835.
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Minute Book 1 / “Conference A,” 1832–1837. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.
19 Feb. 1793–14 July 1876. Tanner, farmer, minister. Born at St. Clair, Allegheny Co., Pennsylvania. Son of William Rigdon and Nancy Gallaher. Joined United Baptists, ca. 1818. Preached at Warren, Trumbull Co., Ohio, and vicinity, 1819–1821. Married Phebe...
View Full Bio“General Assembly,” in Doctrine and Covenants, 1835 ed., 256.
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Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).
“General Assembly,” in Doctrine and Covenants, 1835 ed., 257; see also Minute Book 1, 17 Aug. 1835.
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Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).
Minute Book 1 / “Conference A,” 1832–1837. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.
17 Feb. 1792–7 Mar. 1872. Writer, teacher, printer, newspaper editor, publisher, postmaster, lawyer. Born at Hanover, Morris Co., New Jersey. Son of Enon Phelps and Mehitabel Goldsmith. Moved to Homer, Cortland Co., New York, 1800. Married Sally Waterman,...
View Full BioMinute Book 1, 17 Aug. 1835; “Marriage,” ca. Aug. 1835, in Doctrine and Covenants 101, 1835 ed.
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Minute Book 1 / “Conference A,” 1832–1837. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.
Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).
Minute Book 1, 17 Aug. 1835; “Of Governments and Laws in General,” ca. Aug. 1835, in Doctrine and Covenants 102, 1835 ed. [D&C 134].
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Minute Book 1 / “Conference A,” 1832–1837. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.
Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).
“General Assembly,” in Doctrine and Covenants, 1835 ed., 256–257; “Index,” Doctrine and
Covenants, 1835 ed., i–iii; “Contents,” Doctrine and Covenants, 1835 ed., v–xxiii; “Notes to the Reader,”
Doctrine and Covenants, 1835 ed., xxv.
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Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).
In contrast with the chapters in the Book of Commandments, many of the sections in
the Doctrine and Covenants were presented out of chronological order. Analysis of the
Doctrine and Covenants and its source texts yields some insights about how texts were
selected and why the sections may have been arranged in the order they were. Sections 1
through 7, which date from April 1830 to February 1834 but which are not arranged
in chronological order, appear to have been placed first in the volume because of their importance:
section 1, which was also the first chapter in the Book of Commandments, was
understood to be a divinely given “preface” to the compilation;46
section 2 contains the
founding articles and covenants of the church; sections 3, 4, and 6 are identified in large
headings as being “ON PRIESTHOOD” and constitute something of a handbook on
priesthood and church government; section 5 presents the minutes from the organizational
meeting of the first high council of the church; and section 7, the “olive leaf” revelation,47
presents instructions on preparing for a solemn assembly in the temple in Kirtland. Of
these seven texts, the first two were marked in Oliver Cowdery’s copy of the Book of
Commandments with the word “Covenants” and the fourth through sixth were marked
“To go into the covenants” in Revelation Book 2.48
For some of the texts, there are additional
editing marks in Revelation Book 2 that likely relate to publication in the Doctrine
and Covenants.49
Revelation, 1 Nov. 1831–B, in Revelation Book 1, p. 125, in JSP, MRB:223; “Index,” Doctrine and
Covenants, 1835 ed., i.
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JSP, MRB / Jensen, Robin Scott, Robert J. Woodford, and Steven C. Harper, eds. Manuscript Revelation Books. Facsimile edition. First volume of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman. Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2009.
Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).
“Index,” Doctrine and Covenants, 1835 ed., i.
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Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835.
JS revelation of Jan. 1831 directed Latter-day Saints to migrate to Ohio, where they would “be endowed with power from on high.” JS Revelation of Dec. 1832 directed Saints to “establish . . . an house of God.” JS Revelation of 1 June 1833 chastened Saints...
More InfoLocated ten miles south of Lake Erie. Settled by 1811. Organized by 1818. Population in 1830 about 55 Latter-day Saints and 1,000 others; in 1838 about 2,000 Saints and 1,200 others; in 1839 about 100 Saints and 1,500 others. Mormon missionaries visited township...
More Info3 Oct. 1806–3 Mar. 1850. Clerk, teacher, justice of the peace, lawyer, newspaper editor. Born at Wells, Rutland Co., Vermont. Son of William Cowdery and Rebecca Fuller. Raised Congregationalist. Moved to western New York and clerked at a store, ca. 1825–1828...
View Full BioRevelation Book 2, pp. 20, 111, 31, in JSP, MRB:453, 639, 475. In addition, the text of section 7 was
marked in Revelation Book 2 with slashes apparently in the same ink flow as the notations that read “To
go into the covenants.” These slashes served an unknown purpose but indicate this revelation was being
surveyed at the same time as the three sections with that notation. (See JSP, MRB:487n56.)
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JSP, MRB / Jensen, Robin Scott, Robert J. Woodford, and Steven C. Harper, eds. Manuscript Revelation Books. Facsimile edition. First volume of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman. Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2009.
See “Table 3: Relationship between Items in Revelation Books 1 and 2 and the 1835 Doctrine and
Covenants,” in JSP, MRB:702.
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JSP, MRB / Jensen, Robin Scott, Robert J. Woodford, and Steven C. Harper, eds. Manuscript Revelation Books. Facsimile edition. First volume of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman. Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2009.
Sections 8 through 21 of the volume, which date from April 1829 to September 1831, are
arranged in chronological order. In his copy of the Book of Commandments, Oliver
Cowdery marked these texts, except for the text of section 8, with the word “Covenants,”
indicating that he may have made a special pass through the Book of Commandments to
identify texts to be included early in the Doctrine and Covenants. For a handful of these
texts, there are also editing marks in Revelation Book 1 that likely relate to publication in the Doctrine and Covenants.50
Most of these texts had also been previously published in
The Evening and the Morning Star, suggesting that texts that may have been perceived as
especially important were published in that newspaper.
3 Oct. 1806–3 Mar. 1850. Clerk, teacher, justice of the peace, lawyer, newspaper editor. Born at Wells, Rutland Co., Vermont. Son of William Cowdery and Rebecca Fuller. Raised Congregationalist. Moved to western New York and clerked at a store, ca. 1825–1828...
View Full BioSee “Table 3: Relationship between Items in Revelation Books 1 and 2 and the 1835 Doctrine and
Covenants,” in JSP, MRB:702–703.
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JSP, MRB / Jensen, Robin Scott, Robert J. Woodford, and Steven C. Harper, eds. Manuscript Revelation Books. Facsimile edition. First volume of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman. Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2009.
The texts in sections 22 through 29, dating from May 1831 to January 1832, are not
arranged in chronological order, nor were they published in the Book of Commandments.
John Whitmer marked seven of these eight texts sequentially in Revelation Book 1 with
“No 1” through “No 8,” omitting “No 2”;51
only section 23 is not so marked, but it evidently
should have been marked as “No 2.” Again, these markings in a source text show that the
arrangement of sections was deliberate. For all eight of these texts, there are editing marks
in Revelation Book 1, beyond the aforementioned numbering, that likely relate to publication
in the Doctrine and Covenants.52
27 Aug. 1802–11 July 1878. Farmer, stock raiser, newspaper editor. Born in Pennsylvania. Son of Peter Whitmer Sr. and Mary Musselman. Member of German Reformed Church, Fayette, Seneca Co., New York. Baptized by Oliver Cowdery, June 1829, most likely in Seneca...
View Full BioSee JSP, MRB:159n196.
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JSP, MRB / Jensen, Robin Scott, Robert J. Woodford, and Steven C. Harper, eds. Manuscript Revelation Books. Facsimile edition. First volume of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman. Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2009.
See “Table 3: Relationship between Items in Revelation Books 1 and 2 and the 1835 Doctrine and
Covenants,” in JSP, MRB:703.
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JSP, MRB / Jensen, Robin Scott, Robert J. Woodford, and Steven C. Harper, eds. Manuscript Revelation Books. Facsimile edition. First volume of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman. Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2009.
Sections 30 through 72 are arranged chronologically, though they do not pick up
where any former grouping left off. These sections, which date from July 1828 to August
1831, present in order the remaining texts published in the Book of Commandments and
not already included in the earlier sections of the Doctrine and Covenants.53 For this group
of texts, only one revelation, section 42, has editing marks in Revelation Book 1 or
Revelation Book 2 that likely relate to publication in the Doctrine and Covenants.54
However, many of the sections in this group reflect editing marks made in Oliver
Cowdery’s copy of the Book of Commandments, and the wording of most of the sections
closely mirrors the wording in the Book of Commandments. It is probable, therefore, that
the Cowdery volume was the source text for nearly all of the sections in this grouping.
The heading “ON PRIESTHOOD AND CALLING,” which immediately precedes section
30, may indicate that subsequent sections were seen as having a common theme, or the
heading may have been intended to apply to section 30 only. Regardless of what was meant
by the heading, the revelations in sections 30 to 72 do seem to cohere roughly as a unit.
Most of these revelations are shorter texts addressed to specific individuals, usually directing
a person to undertake a particular assignment, or calling, in the church or giving
specific counsel related to an assignment already given. The revelations preceding section
30, in contrast, are typically lengthier texts on church government or doctrine addressed to
audiences of church members or leaders generally.
Two revelations not published in the Book of Commandments were also included in this grouping: sections 42 and 54.
See “Table 3: Relationship between Items in Revelation Books 1 and 2 and the 1835 Doctrine and
Covenants,” in JSP, MRB:703–704.
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3 Oct. 1806–3 Mar. 1850. Clerk, teacher, justice of the peace, lawyer, newspaper editor. Born at Wells, Rutland Co., Vermont. Son of William Cowdery and Rebecca Fuller. Raised Congregationalist. Moved to western New York and clerked at a store, ca. 1825–1828...
View Full BioA final group of texts, sections 73 through 100, have creation dates ranging from
December 1830 to November 1834.55
At times sections within this group are presented in chronological order (sections 90 through 94, for example); usually, however, they are out
of chronological order. The principle by which the sections in this group were arranged is
not evident, except that section 100 is labeled in large type as an “APPENDIX” to the
work.56
Most of these texts were marked up in Revelation Book 1, Revelation Book 2, or
both for publication in the Doctrine and Covenants.57
The final two sections in the volume, sections 101 and 102, present articles on marriage and government,
respectively, that were created circa August 1835 as work on the volume was concluding. (See
Minute Book 1, 17 Aug. 1835.)
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Minute Book 1 / “Conference A,” 1832–1837. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.
Revelation, 3 Nov. 1831, in Doctrine and Covenants 100, 1835 ed. [D&C 133], was referred to as an
“appendix” as early as May 1833. (“Revelations,” The Evening and the Morning Star, May 1833, [1]–[2]; see
also Appendix 1: Revelation, 3 Nov. 1831, p. [6], in JSP, MRB:405 [D&C 133].)
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Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).
The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.
JSP, MRB / Jensen, Robin Scott, Robert J. Woodford, and Steven C. Harper, eds. Manuscript Revelation Books. Facsimile edition. First volume of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman. Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2009.
See “Table 3: Relationship between Items in Revelation Books 1 and 2 and the 1835 Doctrine and
Covenants,” in JSP, MRB:704–705.
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JSP, MRB / Jensen, Robin Scott, Robert J. Woodford, and Steven C. Harper, eds. Manuscript Revelation Books. Facsimile edition. First volume of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman. Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2009.
William W. Phelps, who saw the first efforts to print the revelations hindered in
Missouri, eagerly anticipated the publication of the Doctrine and Covenants. In the same
issue of the Messenger and Advocate that printed the minutes of the 17 August 1835 assembly
meeting, he announced that the Doctrine and Covenants was “nearly ready for sale” and
“may be expected in the course of a month, as one thousand copies have already been delivered
to the binder.”58
By September 1835, some copies of the book had been bound in
Cleveland and were available for sale.59
It appears that advance payments for the book were
taken as early as 26 June 1835.60
David Whitmer and Samuel Smith were appointed by the
presidency of the church as official agents to sell copies of the volume, which were priced at
one dollar.61
From the first, the Doctrine and Covenants was more accessible to church
members than the scarce and incomplete Book of Commandments had been, but it appears
the volume was not as widely disseminated as church leaders had hoped. No definite information
about the total size of the 1835 printing is extant, but in the first two months after
the volume was available, just over eighty copies were sold by F. G. Williams & Co.62
The
F. G. Williams & Co. account book ends in early November 1835, and no other records
have been located that provide a clearer picture of total sales. In April 1836, at least five
hundred unbound copies remained unsold.63
Any volumes not sold by 1838 and stored in
Kirtland were likely destroyed when the Kirtland printing office burned in the early part of
1838.64
17 Feb. 1792–7 Mar. 1872. Writer, teacher, printer, newspaper editor, publisher, postmaster, lawyer. Born at Hanover, Morris Co., New Jersey. Son of Enon Phelps and Mehitabel Goldsmith. Moved to Homer, Cortland Co., New York, 1800. Married Sally Waterman,...
View Full BioArea acquired by U.S. in Louisiana Purchase, 1803, and established as territory, 1812. Missouri Compromise, 1820, admitted Missouri as slave state, 1821. Population in 1830 about 140,000; in 1836 about 240,000; and in 1840 about 380,000. Mormon missionaries...
More Info[William W. Phelps], “Doctrine and Covenants,” LDS Messenger and Advocate, Aug. 1835, 1:170.
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Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.
Cuyahoga Co. seat of justice, 1833. Situated on south shore of Lake Erie, just east of mouth of Cuyahoga River. First settled, 1797. Incorporated as village, 1815; incorporated as city, 1836. Became center of business and trade at opening of Ohio and Erie...
More InfoPhelps wrote to his wife on 18 September 1835: “We got some of the commandments from Cleveland
last week.” (William W. Phelps, Kirtland Mills, OH, to Sally Phelps, Liberty, MO, 16–18 Sept. 1835, private possession, copy at CHL.)
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Phelps, William W. Letter, Kirtland Mills, OH, to Sally Phelps, Liberty, MO, 16–18 Sept. 1835. Private possession. Copy at CHL.
F. G. Williams and Company, Account Book, 2 (second numbering).
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F. G. Williams and Company. Account Book, 1833–1835. CHL.
7 Jan. 1805–25 Jan. 1888. Farmer, livery keeper. Born near Harrisburg, Dauphin Co., Pennsylvania. Son of Peter Whitmer Sr. and Mary Musselman. Raised Presbyterian. Moved to Ontario Co., New York, shortly after birth. Attended German Reformed Church. Arranged...
View Full Bio13 Mar. 1808–30 July 1844. Farmer, logger, scribe, builder, tavern operator. Born at Tunbridge, Orange Co., Vermont. Son of Joseph Smith Sr. and Lucy Mack. Moved to Royalton, Windsor Co., Vermont, by Mar. 1810; to Lebanon, Grafton Co., New Hampshire, 1811...
View Full BioMinute Book 1, 16 Sept. 1835; William W. Phelps, Kirtland Mills, OH, to Sally Phelps, Liberty, MO, 16–18 Sept. 1835, private possession, copy at CHL.
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Minute Book 1 / “Conference A,” 1832–1837. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.
Phelps, William W. Letter, Kirtland Mills, OH, to Sally Phelps, Liberty, MO, 16–18 Sept. 1835. Private possession. Copy at CHL.
F. G. Williams and Company, Account Book, 2 (second numbering). While other individuals
and perhaps other committees or groups within the church would have sold copies of the book, that the
printer sold only about eighty copies within the first two months of its availability suggests that sales were
disappointing.
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F. G. Williams and Company. Account Book, 1833–1835. CHL.
Minute Book 1, 2 Apr. 1836.
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Minute Book 1 / “Conference A,” 1832–1837. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.
Located ten miles south of Lake Erie. Settled by 1811. Organized by 1818. Population in 1830 about 55 Latter-day Saints and 1,000 others; in 1838 about 2,000 Saints and 1,200 others; in 1839 about 100 Saints and 1,500 others. Mormon missionaries visited township...
More InfoFollowing destruction of church printing office in Independence, Missouri, July 1833, JS and other church leaders determined to set up new printing office in Kirtland under firm name F. G. Williams & Co. Oliver Cowdery purchased new printing press in New ...
More InfoJohn Smith, Kirtland, OH, to George A. Smith, Shinnston, VA, 15–17 Jan. 1838, George Albert Smith, Papers, CHL; Johnson, “A Life Review,” 24. A published notice of a sheriff’s sale lists “a quantity
of Covenants” as part of the inventory of the printing office just before it was destroyed. (“Sheriff Sale,” Painesville (OH) Telegraph, 5 Jan. 1838, [3].)
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Smith, George Albert. Papers, 1834–1877. CHL.
Johnson, Benjamin Franklin. “A Life Review,” after 1893. Benjamin Franklin Johnson, Papers, 1852–1911. CHL.
Painesville Telegraph. Painesville, OH. 1831–1838.
Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God, and Compiled by Joseph Smith Junior. Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, Frederick G. Williams, {Presiding Elders of said Church.} Proprietors.; Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams & Co., 1835; i–iv, 5–257, 25 pages of back matter paginated i–xxv; includes typeset signature marks and copyright notice.
The copy presented herein is held at CHL; includes marginalia and archival markings.
This book was printed in octavo format on eighteen sheets, which were folded to make eighteen
gatherings of eight leaves (sixteen pages) each. The text block consists of 288 pages measuring 6 × 4
inches (15 × 10 cm).1 The sheets were likely printed using a work-and-turn technique, yielding two copies
of the same gathering for each sheet.2
In addition to the 282 pages identified in the preceding paragraph, the text block includes six unnumbered pages not accounted for in the pagination: a blank page after page 257 and five blank pages at the end of the volume, after page xxv.
An uncut sheet of the first Kirtland issue (Dec. 1833) of The Evening and the Morning Star, which was printed on the same press as the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants, is super royal size, or approximately 27½ × 20 inches (70 × 51 cm). Had the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants, which was printed in octavo format, been printed on super royal–size paper with a sheetwise technique (one gathering per sheet), each sheet would have yielded eight leaves measuring approximately 10 × 6⅞ inches (25 × 17 cm) each, a page size significantly larger than was needed for the Doctrine and Covenants, which measures approximately 6 × 4 inches (15 × 10 cm). If a work-and-turn technique had been used, each sheet would have yielded sixteen leaves measuring approximately 6⅞ × 5 inches (17 × 13 cm) each, leaving about a quarter inch to be trimmed from the top and bottom of each leaf and about a half an inch to be trimmed from the outside edge.
Different bindings exist among the extant copies from this printing of the Doctrine and
Covenants because copies were bound at different times.3
The copy of the book featured herein, which
belonged to early church member and leader Newel K. Whitney, measures 6¼ × 4⅜ × ⅞ inches (16 ×
11 × 2 cm). The cover is made from brown leather, with gilt and blind tooling on the spine and around
the edges of the front and back covers. “Doctrine & | Covenants” is stamped on the spine in gilt. The
front and back pastedowns, the front flyleaf, and the back flyleaf are single-sided marbled leaves featuring
a Spanish pattern with blue shell body and shell veins of red and yellow. The verso of the front
flyleaf bears a notation in graphite in unidentified handwriting, which was later stricken: “Presented,
By. The hand of his mother E[lizabeth] A[nn]. Whitney to her Son Joshua [Kimball Whitney] on
Tuesday Nov 26th 1872 S[alt]. L[ake]. City”. The recto of the subsequent unprinted page bears several notations, all in unidentified handwriting: “RN- 232438”, “Vault | Book | M223.1 | D637 | 1835 | no.4”,
“E[lizabeth]. A[nn]. Whitneys | Book”, “G. S. L. City | May 23d. 1858.”, and “Sister Elia ◊◊◊◊ | see me at ◊◊◊◊◊◊◊”. The verso of that page is blank, as is the following leaf. The
title page bears the signature of “N[ewel] K Whitney”. The final gathering of the book ends with two
blank leaves. Two additional blank leaves were included, followed by a single flyleaf and the pastedown.
The recto of the back flyleaf bears a light graphite notation in unidentified handwriting: “Mrs
Whitney”.
Crawley, Descriptive Bibliography, 1:57.
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Crawley, Peter. A Descriptive Bibliography of the Mormon Church. 2 vols. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1997, 2005.
3/5 Feb. 1795–23 Sept. 1850. Trader, merchant. Born at Marlborough, Windham Co., Vermont. Son of Samuel Whitney and Susanna Kimball. Moved to Fairfield, Herkimer Co., New York, 1803. Merchant at Plattsburg, Clinton Co., New York, 1814. Mercantile clerk for...
View Full Bio26 Dec. 1800–15 Feb. 1882. Born at Derby, New Haven Co., Connecticut. Daughter of Gibson Smith and Polly Bradley. Moved to Ohio, 1819. Married Newel K. Whitney, 20 Oct. 1822, at Kirtland, Geauga Co., Ohio. Shortly after, joined reformed Baptist (later Disciples...
View Full BioAfter the death of Newel K. Whitney in 1850, his wife Elizabeth Ann took possession of the book
and then gave it to her son Joshua Kimball Whitney in 1872. The book remained in the Whitney family
until it was acquired by the Historical Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
in 1987.
3/5 Feb. 1795–23 Sept. 1850. Trader, merchant. Born at Marlborough, Windham Co., Vermont. Son of Samuel Whitney and Susanna Kimball. Moved to Fairfield, Herkimer Co., New York, 1803. Merchant at Plattsburg, Clinton Co., New York, 1814. Mercantile clerk for...
View Full Bio26 Dec. 1800–15 Feb. 1882. Born at Derby, New Haven Co., Connecticut. Daughter of Gibson Smith and Polly Bradley. Moved to Ohio, 1819. Married Newel K. Whitney, 20 Oct. 1822, at Kirtland, Geauga Co., Ohio. Shortly after, joined reformed Baptist (later Disciples...
View Full Bio