This manuscript in the handwriting of is a -era copy of the -era Book of Abraham material. Its title and short introduction, which provides a brief history of the believed origins of the papyri, are not copied from any Kirtland-era manuscript. The manuscript presented here is textually dependent upon the Kirtland-era manuscript in the handwriting of and (Book of Abraham Manuscript–C), suggesting that Richards copied directly from that document. Compared with Book of Abraham Manuscript–C, the first two hundred words of Richards’s Nauvoo-era copy contain significantly more revisions than subsequent portions of the copied text. The heavy revision suggests that Richards copied this section from an intermediate text that contained revisions, rather than from the original Kirtland-era document. However, the significant misspellings and rushed letter formation in the entire manuscript suggest that someone—presumably JS—read from the Kirtland-era manuscript, making occasional changes, while Richards inscribed the text. Once the manuscript was finished, someone added light edits to prepare it for publication. These edits include the inscription of the letter “P” and a number at various points in the manuscript; these notations correspond to the paragraph or verse number in the published Book of Abraham.

A manuscript draft of the explanation of Facsimile 1, in ’s handwriting, is found on the verso of the second leaf of this manuscript. Whether the explanation was inscribed before or after Richards copied this version of the Book of Abraham is unknown. The annotation in this document tracks significant differences between this version and the text found in the three -era Book of Abraham manuscripts, ignoring differences in punctuation, capitalization, and spelling.

See also Introduction to Book of Abraham Manuscripts, circa February–circa 15 March 1842.