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Printer’s Manuscript of the Book of Mormon, circa August 1829–circa January 1830
Source Note
Source Note
“The Book of Mormon An account written by the hand of Mormon upon plates taken from the plates of Nephi wherefore it is an abridgment of the record of the People of Nephi & also of the Lamanites written to the Lamanites which are a remnant of the house of Israel & also to Jew & Gentile written by way of commandment & also by the spirit of Prophesy & of revelation written & sealed up & hid up unto the Lord that they might not be destroid to come forth by the gift & power of God unto the interpretation thereof sealed by the hand of Moroni & hid up unto the Lord to come forth in due time by the way of Gentile the interpretation thereof by the gift of God an abridgment taken from the Book of Ether also which is a record of the People of Jared which were scattered at the time the Lord confounded the language of the People when they were building a tower to get to heaven which is to shew unto the remnant of the house of Israel how great things the Lord hath done for their fathers & that they may know the covenants of the Lord that they are not cast off forever & also to the convinceing of the Jew & Gentile that Jesus is the Christ the Eternal God manifesting himself unto all Nations & now if there be fault it be the mistake of men wherefore condemn not the things of God that ye may be found spotless at the Judgment seat of Christ,” Printer’s Manuscript of the Book of Mormon, [ca. Aug. 1829–ca. Jan. 1830]; handwriting of , an unknown scribe, and ; 466 pages (two leaves, likely blank, missing); CHL. Includes emendations.
Scribes for the printer’s manuscript of the Book of Mormon typically folded six ruled sheets in half, forming a twelve-leaf gathering of twenty-four pages. Eight different paper types of slightly different sizes were used during the process of copying from the original manuscript. The individual sheets range in size from 12⅜ to 13 inches high and from 15⅛ to 16¼ inches wide (32–33 × 38–41 cm); with the sheets folded, the pages measure on average 12¾ × 7⅞ inches (32 × 20 cm). A total of twenty-one gatherings were created, most of which consisted of twelve leaves (twenty-four pages). In addition to the twenty-one gatherings, the printer’s manuscript includes two loose leaves of introductory material. The leaf bearing the preface was cut along the bottom and measures 8½–8⅝ × 81/16 inches (22 × 21 cm); the leaf containing the copyright measures 12½ × 8⅛ inches (32 × 21 cm). Some of the pages were machine-ruled before purchase, while others were hand-ruled after they were folded; the majority of the pages bear thirty-seven lines. After the sheets were written upon, each gathering was sewn together with string or yarn. This was done by making four holes along the gutter of the inside bifolium of each gathering and stitching yarn or string through these holes. The string and yarn have since been removed. Each page was paginated except for the two introductory pages and the first leaf. numbered his pages on the upper right corner of the recto pages and the upper left corner of the verso pages. and the unknown scribe (hereafter referred to as scribe 2) paginated in the upper left corners for both recto and verso pages. The page numbers were generally inscribed before the text on the page was written, though Cowdery sometimes came back and added the page number after the text was copied. Cowdery inscribed signature marks at the bottom of each first recto page in gatherings two through eighteen, likely to keep the gatherings in order as consecutive sections of the manuscript were taken to the print shop. Although it is unclear when Cowdery inscribed signature marks on the several signatures, it appears that he inscribed these textual markers in a number of different sittings. A clear break in the style of signature marks occurs between the fourteenth and the sixteenth gatherings, with the fifteenth serving as a bridge between the two styles. This shift in style probably corresponded to the use of a different copytext. When the compositors set type for the first edition of the Book of Mormon, they used the printer’s manuscript as their source text up through the fifteenth gathering, then the original manuscript until the twentieth gathering, and then the printer’s manuscript until the end.
and two associates created the printer’s manuscript for the use of the compositors, or typesetters, in the print shop in , New York, who were preparing the Book of Mormon for publication. The manuscript was marked up to facilitate typesetting. The compositor, John H. Gilbert, wrote in pencil (and occasionally in ink) on some pages of the manuscript, providing punctuation, capitalization, pilcrows, and other clarifying marks. On other pages, he apparently punctuated as he set the type, leaving the pages unmarked. Some marked-up pages contain corrections over the entire page, while others contain marks on only part of the page. In all, roughly 39 percent of the pages contain compositors’ marks. Sometimes compositors also cut the sheets, which allowed them to work from a single page or a half page, rather than a twelve-leaf gathering. When a leaf was cut horizontally, the two pages were attached to each other with a pin. Samuel A. Burgess, historian for the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS), saw the manuscript in the early twentieth century and recalled that “over half” of the sheets “had never had backs cut but was in folio; one sheet inside another and written as a book.”
Despite the damage that could have been done in this rough printing environment, the manuscript survived in relatively good condition. George Q. Cannon, who had extensive experience as a printer and saw the manuscript in 1884, while it was in the possession of , commented: “I noticed printers’ marks through the manuscript, still it was very clean for copy that printers had handled.” Whitmer told Cannon that the excellent preservation of the manuscript was due to ’s careful stewardship of the document during the printing process. Cannon also commented on the cut pages. The manuscript, he said, “was fastened together, not as a whole, but a few folios, not more than a dozen, with woollen yarn, which he [David Whitmer] said was his mothers.”
After work on the 1830 edition was completed, the printer’s manuscript likely remained in the possession of JS and his associates. In 1837, a new edition of the Book of Mormon was prepared, and the text was “carefully re-examined and compared with the original manuscripts, by elder Joseph Smith, Jr. the translator of the book of Mormon, assisted by the present printer, brother .” Textual evidence, however, indicates that the two editors used only the printer’s manuscript and the first published edition—not the original manuscript—to prepare the text for the second edition. In addition to 1830 compositors’ marks, therefore, the manuscript contains emendations made by JS in preparation for the publication of the 1837 edition. Cowdery retained possession of the manuscript after the 1837 publication. Before Cowdery died in 1850, he passed the manuscript to his fellow Book of Mormon witness and brother-in-law and charged him to preserve it. Many people who visited David Whitmer documented his careful custodianship of the manuscript. Whitmer, however, misunderstood the origin of the document in his possession. He mistakenly told visitors that it was the original manuscript, though he was correct in saying that it was used by the printer for typesetting. Late in Whitmer’s life, a tornado ripped through , Missouri, destroying most of his house; though the roof was torn off the room where the manuscript was kept, the tornado left the manuscript unscathed, leading many believers in the book to the conclusion that the manuscript had been divinely protected.
Upon ’s death in 1888, the manuscript passed to his son, David J. Whitmer. After David J. Whitmer’s early, accidental death in June 1895, his widow, Sylvia, and her sister-in-law Julia Schweich gave the manuscript to Julia’s son, George Schweich, for the sum of one dollar “and the natural love and affection” they held for him. While the manuscript was in his possession, Schweich attempted to sell it, along with other documents held by the Whitmer family, to potential buyers, including The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. At one point in 1900, the manuscript was with a manuscript dealer named William E. Benjamin, who was attempting to sell the manuscript, likely on commission. At another point, Schweich mortgaged the manuscript for $1,800 to raise money. When alerted to the opportunity to purchase the manuscript, Joseph F. Smith of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints rejected the offer, reasoning the manuscript was simply a copy and held little value since the book was available in multiple editions and printings. Schweich finally succeeded in selling the manuscript and other historical documents to the RLDS church (now Community of Christ) in April 1903 for $2,450.
The RLDS church owned the manuscript from 1903 to 2017 and made various efforts to protect and preserve it. Until 1991 the manuscript was stored in a bank in , Missouri, and brought out occasionally for display at world conferences of the RLDS church. A fireproof container was made for the manuscript in the early 1920s. Between October 1922 and October 1923, E. Hobson Tordoff took the manuscript to Berkeley, California, where he separated the still-attached bifolium pages, reattached with clear adhesive the pages that were cut horizontally, and produced photographs of the entire manuscript. The manuscript was microfilmed in 1966 and again in 1968. A new set of color photographs was taken in September 1992 by Nevin Skousen, under the auspices of the Book of Mormon Critical Text Project, and another was taken after conservation of the manuscript in 1997. During the second conservation, conservators from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in cooperation with leaders and archivists of the RLDS church, “carefully cleaned, washed, deacidified, stabilized, repaired, and encapsulated [the pages] between layers of inert Mylar.” The photographs of the manuscript that appear in this volume were taken in 2012. In 2017, the LDS church acquired the manuscript, and it is now held at the Church History Library in Salt Lake City.
Note: The transcript of the printer’s manuscript of the Book of Mormon on this website includes only the original inscriptions, not the later redactions made to the manuscript to prepare the text for publication. Readers will notice many discrepancies between the images and the transcript. For a transcript that includes the redactions, consult the facsimile images available by clicking on the book icon to the left of the images; see also Revelations and Translations, Volume 3, Part 1: Printer’s Manuscript of the Book of Mormon, 1 Nephi 1–Alma 35, facsimile ed. (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2015) and Revelations and Translations, Volume 3, Part 2: Printer’s Manuscript of the Book of Mormon, Alma 36–Moroni 10, facsimile ed. (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).
Footnotes
- [1]
Specific measurements of each paper type used and a more detailed physical description of the manuscript can be found in Skousen, Printer’s Manuscript, 30–36.
Skousen, Royal, ed. The Printer’s Manuscript of the Book of Mormon: Typographical Facsimile of the Entire Text in Two Parts. Part 1, Copyright, 1830 Preface, 1 Nephi 1:0–Alma 17:26. Provo, UT: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, Brigham Young University, 2001.
- [2]
The outliers are the eighth, seventeenth, nineteenth, and twenty-first gatherings, which are composed of five, three, three, and four sheets, respectively. The gatherings are folded in half, forming twice as many leaves and four times as many pages as there are sheets. The last gathering’s final two leaves (presumably blank) are no longer extant and were probably discarded during or shortly after the printing process.
- [3]
The only exception to this pattern was when Oliver Cowdery and scribe 2 both wrote on manuscript page 157. Cowdery inscribed the page, and when he was finished, scribe 2 placed the page number at the upper right corner, likely because there was more space for the number there than in the upper left corner. (Book of Mormon, Printer’s Manuscript, ca. Aug. 1829–ca. Jan. 1830, p. 157.)
- [4]
The first gathering may also have been marked with a signature mark, but the bottom portion of the page is missing from the first leaf, making it impossible to ascertain the existence of a signature mark.
- [5]
Though it is possible that another individual in the Palmyra print shop marked up portions of the manuscript, the evenness of the ink and consistency of the shape of punctuation and other marks suggest that a single individual, most likely John H. Gilbert, marked up the manuscript in preparation for publication. (See “Mormon Leaders at Their Mecca,” New York Herald, 25 June 1893, 12; see also Skousen, “John Gilbert’s 1892 Account,” 58–72.)
New York Herald. New York City. 1835–1924.
Skousen, Royal. “Worthy of Another Look: John Gilbert’s 1892 Account of the 1830 Printing of the Book of Mormon.” Journal of the Book of Mormon an Other Restoration Scripture 21, no. 2 (2012): 58–72.
- [6]
Evidence of these pins comes from the holes they created and the rust marks left by the heads of the pins; the pins themselves are not extant.
- [7]
Burgess made this observation in a letter he wrote to Israel A. Smith after 1923. A Missouri newspaper observed that the manuscript was “yellow with age, of large, old fashioned, unruled foolscap paper, closely written upon both sides with ink and fastened together in sections with yarn strings.” (Skousen, Printer’s Manuscript, 15; “Mormonism,” Kansas City (MO) Daily Journal, 5 June 1881, [1].)
Skousen, Royal, ed. The Printer’s Manuscript of the Book of Mormon: Typographical Facsimile of the Entire Text in Two Parts. Part 1, Copyright, 1830 Preface, 1 Nephi 1:0–Alma 17:26. Provo, UT: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, Brigham Young University, 2001.
Kansas City Daily Journal. Kansas City, MO. 1878–1891.
- [8]
Cannon, Journal, 27 Feb. 1884.
Cannon, George Q. Journals, 1855–1864, 1872–1901. CHL. CR 850 1.
- [9]
Cannon, Journal, 27 Feb. 1884. E. Hobson Tordoff, who conserved the manuscript in the early twentieth century, documented the state of the gatherings of the manuscript and showed that as early as the twentieth century, a little less than half of the manuscript pages were still intact and folded within gatherings. The pages that were bound with yarn were probably the four gatherings that never went to the print shop. The stain from the yarn can still be seen in those four gatherings. (E. Hobson Tordoff, Note, 20 Oct. 1922, Archaeology: Book of Mormon Manuscript Correspondence and Clippings, 1899–1949, CCLA.)
Cannon, George Q. Journals, 1855–1864, 1872–1901. CHL. CR 850 1.
Archaeology: Book of Mormon Manuscript Correspondence and Clippings, 1899–1949. CCLA.
- [10]
“Preface,” Book of Mormon, 1837 ed., v.
- [11]
“Mormonism,” Kansas City (MO) Daily Journal, 5 June 1881, [1].
Kansas City Daily Journal. Kansas City, MO. 1878–1891.
- [12]
See Lyndon W. Cook, ed., David Whitmer Interviews: A Restoration Witness (Orem, UT: Grandin Book, 1991), for a book-length compilation of Whitmer’s reminiscences, experiences, and custodianship of the manuscripts in his possession as reported by visitors and interviewers. Whitmer felt it his sacred duty to be custodian of the text and often welcomed visitors who wished to see it or interview him about it. He told Orson Pratt and Joseph F. Smith, “Oliver [Cowdery] charged me to keep it [the manuscript], and Joseph [Smith] said my Fathers house should ‘keep the Records’ &c. I consider these things sacred and would not part with, nor barter them for money.” (Joseph F. Smith, New York City, NY, to John Taylor et al., [Salt Lake City, Utah Territory], 17 Sept. 1878, draft, Joseph F. Smith, Papers, CHL.)
Smith, Joseph F. Papers, 1854–1918. CHL. MS 1325.
- [13]
Joseph F. Smith and Orson Pratt pointed out to Whitmer in 1878 that the signatures on the witness pages were copied and not original signatures, whereupon Smith suggested “that perhaps there were two copies of the manuscript, But Mr. Whitmer replied that according to the best of his Knowledge there never was but the one copy.” Following an inspection of the manuscript in 1884, James H. Hart reported a conversation with Whitmer, wherein Hart stated “that it looked very much as though it was the original copy,” going on to explain that “it would in fact take considerable more evidence than I had seen to convince me that it was not the original and only written copy.” Whitmer responded in the affirmative, “I know, positively, that it is so.” (J. F. Smith to J. Taylor et al., 17 Sept. 1878; James H. Hart, “About the Book of Mormon,” Deseret Evening News [Salt Lake City], 25 Mar. 1884, [2].)
Smith, Joseph F. Papers, 1854–1918. CHL. MS 1325.
Deseret News. Salt Lake City. 1850–.
- [14]
“Mormonism,” Kansas City (MO) Daily Journal, 5 June 1881, [1]; Cannon, Journal, 27 Feb. 1884. One story was told years later of several neighbors of Whitmer who were attempting to steal the manuscript but were frightened away by rattlesnakes. (Israel A. Smith, Letter, [Independence, MO], Archaeology: Book of Mormon Manuscript Correspondence and Clippings, 1899–1949, CCLA.)
Kansas City Daily Journal. Kansas City, MO. 1878–1891.
Cannon, George Q. Journals, 1855–1864, 1872–1901. CHL. CR 850 1.
Archaeology: Book of Mormon Manuscript Correspondence and Clippings, 1899–1949. CCLA.
- [15]
“David J. Whitmer Dead,” Deseret Evening News (Salt Lake City), 29 June 1895, 10; “This Manuscript Is Worth a Fortune,” St. Louis Republic, 10 Nov. 1895, 26; Andrew Jenson et al., “Historical Landmarks,” Deseret Evening News, 17 Sept. 1888, [2].
Deseret News. Salt Lake City. 1850–.
St. Louis Republic. St. Louis, MO. 1888–1919.
- [16]
Sylvia R. Whitmer and Julia A. Schweich to George W. Schweich, Deed of Transfer, Ray Co., MO, Deed Records, 1820–1927, vol. 65, pp. 575–576, 2 July 1895, microfilm 2,444,896, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; see also “This Manuscript Is Worth a Fortune,” St. Louis Republic, 10 Nov. 1895, 26. Schweich kept the manuscript for at least some of the time in a bank vault in Richmond, Missouri.
U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.
St. Louis Republic. St. Louis, MO. 1888–1919.
- [17]
See, for instance, Joseph F. Smith, Salt Lake City, UT, to Samuel Russell Jr., Bern, Switzerland, 19 Mar. 1901, Samuel Russell Sr. Family Papers, 1822–1954, BYU.
Smith, Joseph F. Letter, Salt Lake City, UT, to Samuel Russell Jr., Bern, Switzerland, 19 Mar. 1901. Samuel Russell Sr. Family Papers, 1822–1954. BYU.
- [18]
George Schweich, Richmond, MO, to O. R. Beardsley, 17 Jan. 1900, Miscellanea, Marie Eccles-Caine Archives of Intermountain Americana, Utah State University Special Collections, Logan; Joseph F. Smith, Salt Lake City, UT, to Samuel Russell Jr., Bern, Switzerland, 19 Mar. 1901, Samuel Russell Sr. Family Papers, 1822–1954, BYU; Brigham, “William Evarts Benjamin,” 9–11; see also Riley, Founder of Mormonism, 102n61.
Schweich, George. Letter, Richmond, MO, to O. R. Beardsley, 17 Jan. 1900. Miscellanea, Marie Eccles-Caine Archives of Intermountain Americana, Utah State University Special Collections, Logan.
Smith, Joseph F. Letter, Salt Lake City, UT, to Samuel Russell Jr., Bern, Switzerland, 19 Mar. 1901. Samuel Russell Sr. Family Papers, 1822–1954. BYU.
Brigham, Clarence S. “William Evarts Benjamin.” In Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society. Vol. 50, April 17, 1940–October 16, 1940, 9–11. Worcester, MA: American Antiquarian Society, 1941.
Riley, I. Woodbridge. The Founder of Mormonism: A Psychological Study of Joseph Smith, Jr. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1902.
- [19]
Anderson, Diary, 16 May 1907.
Anderson, George Edward. Diary, Apr.–Aug. 1907. George Edward Anderson, Diaries, 1907–1911. Microfilm. CHL.
- [20]
Joseph F. Smith, Salt Lake City, UT, to Samuel Russell Jr., Bern, Switzerland, 19 Mar. 1901, Samuel Russell Sr. Family Papers, 1822–1954, BYU.
Smith, Joseph F. Letter, Salt Lake City, UT, to Samuel Russell Jr., Bern, Switzerland, 19 Mar. 1901. Samuel Russell Sr. Family Papers, 1822–1954. BYU.
- [21]
“Minutes of First Presidency,” 24 Apr. 1902, CCLA; “Minutes of General Conference,” Saints’ Herald, 1904, supplement, 689; Israel A. Smith, “A ‘Sealed’ Book,” Saints’ Herald, 28 Feb. 1942, 262–263; Walter W. Smith, Independence, MO, to S. A. Burgess, Independence, MO, 15 Apr. 1926, J. F. Curtis, Papers, CCLA; “Book of Mormon Manuscript,” Archaeology: Book of Mormon Manuscript Correspondence and Clippings, 1899–1949, CCLA.
“Minutes of First Presidency, March 1898 to September 1907, Record No. 1.” CCLA.
Saints’ Herald. Independence, MO. 1860–.
Curtis, J. F. Papers. CCLA.
Archaeology: Book of Mormon Manuscript Correspondence and Clippings, 1899–1949. CCLA.
- [22]
Frederick M. Smith, Lamoni, IA, to Oscar W. Newton, Salt Lake City, UT, 20 June 1907, Subject Folder Collection, Adam-ondi-Ahman to Church Literature, CCLA; Elbert A. Smith, [Independence, MO], to G. H. Elmer, Cove, OR, 27 Sept. 1957, Subject Folder Collection, Book of Mormon, CCLA; Romig, “Community of Christ Church Possession of Book of Mormon Printer’s Manuscript,” 3; Romig, “Printer’s Manuscript,” 34.
Smith, Frederick M. Letter, Lamoni, IA, to Oscar W. Newton, Salt Lake City, UT, 20 June 1907. Subject Folder Collection, Adam-ondi-Ahman to Church Literature. CCLA.
Smith, Elbert A. Letter, [Independence, MO], to G. H. Elmer, Cove, OR, 27 Sept. 1957. Subject Folder Collection, Book of Mormon. CCLA.
Romig, Ronald E. “Community of Christ Church Possession of Book of Mormon Printer’s Manuscript.” Unpublished report, last modified 15 May 2007. CCLA. Copy in editors’ possession.
Romig, Ronald E. “The Printer’s Manuscript.” In Uncovering the Original Text of the Book of Mormon: History and Findings of the Critical Text Project, edited by M. Gerald Bradford and Alison V. P. Coutts, 32–38. Provo, UT: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 2002.
- [23]
Letter to Frederick M. Smith, [Independence, MO], 16 May 1929, Archaeology: Book of Mormon Manuscript Correspondence and Clippings, 1899–1949, CCLA; see also Israel A. Smith, Letter, [Independence, MO], Archaeology: Book of Mormon Manuscript Correspondence and Clippings, 1899–1949, CCLA. Israel A. Smith described the container of the manuscript: “Its now in a fire proof holder, that slides tight into another; and that into a third. Then we ke[e]p it in a fire proof vauly [vault].”
Archaeology: Book of Mormon Manuscript Correspondence and Clippings, 1899–1949. CCLA.
- [24]
E. Hobson Tordoff, Berkeley, CA, to RLDS Presiding Bishopric, Independence, MO, 20 Feb. 1924, Archaeology: Book of Mormon Manuscript Correspondence and Clippings, 1899–1949, CCLA; Romig, “Community of Christ Church Possession of Book of Mormon Printer’s Manuscript,” 2.
Archaeology: Book of Mormon Manuscript Correspondence and Clippings, 1899–1949. CCLA.
Romig, Ronald E. “Community of Christ Church Possession of Book of Mormon Printer’s Manuscript.” Unpublished report, last modified 15 May 2007. CCLA. Copy in editors’ possession.
- [25]
Romig, “Community of Christ Church Possession of Book of Mormon Printer’s Manuscript,” 3, 5, 8–9.
Romig, Ronald E. “Community of Christ Church Possession of Book of Mormon Printer’s Manuscript.” Unpublished report, last modified 15 May 2007. CCLA. Copy in editors’ possession.
- [26]
Romig, “Community of Christ Church Possession of Book of Mormon Printer’s Manuscript,” 8.
Romig, Ronald E. “Community of Christ Church Possession of Book of Mormon Printer’s Manuscript.” Unpublished report, last modified 15 May 2007. CCLA. Copy in editors’ possession.
- [27]
Historical Introduction
Historical Introduction
Following the completion of the Book of Mormon translation by early July 1829, began work on a second copy of the Book of Mormon manuscript for use in the publication process. Meanwhile, JS and looked for a printer to publish the book. They first approached , New York, printer in the summer of 1829 regarding the prospect of publishing the Book of Mormon, but he turned them down. Seeking other options, JS and Harris traveled as far away as , New York, to find a printer. They secured a bid from Elihu Marshall of Rochester but still hoped to have the book printed in Palmyra, where Smith’s associates could more readily supervise the process. Smith and Harris therefore asked Grandin to reconsider. According to Grandin’s compositor, John H. Gilbert, Grandin and Gilbert prepared a bid, and “Mr Grandin consented to do the job if his terms were accepted.” Grandin likely would not have purchased type or otherwise begun work on the book without first receiving payment. Harris mortgaged his farm on 25 August 1829 to pay the $3,000 Grandin required to publish five thousand copies, and work began soon after.
’s loss of the initial portion of the Book of Mormon manuscript a year earlier made JS and his associates especially wary about the safety of the manuscript. The printer’s manuscript served both to provide a security copy and to facilitate publication of the Book of Mormon. , JS’s mother, later said that the direction to make a second copy of the Book of Mormon manuscript came through a revelation to her son, though no such revelation text is known. According to her, JS instructed to “never take both transcripts to the [printing] office.” He was also to have someone accompany him whenever transporting the manuscript, “for the purpose of protecting him in case of danger. that if this precaution was not taken his enemies would be likely to waylay him in order to get the manuscript away from him.”
Three scribes—, an unknown scribe (scribe 2), and —created the printer’s manuscript in the area during a period of roughly five months. Cowdery inscribed 84 percent of the manuscript, while scribe 2 copied about 15 percent, and Hyrum Smith wrote less than 1 percent. The entire manuscript consists of twenty-one gatherings (collections of folded leaves that normally contain twenty-four pages). Cowdery wrote the first six gatherings (through manuscript page 144); then Cowdery, scribe 2, and Hyrum Smith took turns copying the next gathering (manuscript pages 145–168); and scribe 2 and Hyrum Smith copied the eighth gathering (manuscript pages 169–188). The ninth gathering begins in the handwriting of scribe 2 and ends in that of Cowdery, who also copied the next eight gatherings (through manuscript page 392). Cowdery copied the first two pages of the eighteenth gathering, and then scribe 2 finished that gathering and the entire nineteenth gathering (through manuscript page 428). Cowdery copied the final two gatherings. A comparison of the text of the extant original manuscript and the text of the printer’s manuscript reveals an average of three scribal errors or changes per extant original manuscript page by Cowdery, the scribe for whom the most data exists to make such an analysis.
Only a few historical clues assist in reconstructing a chronology for the creation of the printer’s manuscript, though it is clear that it was created between the end of the translation (by early July 1829) and the completion of printing in mid-March 1830. Its creation also correlates roughly with the printing of the manuscript. Because would not begin work until he was paid, it is unlikely any type was set until after the 25 August 1829 agreement between and Grandin that secured funding for the project. This is confirmed by Gilbert, the compositor and part-time pressman for the book, who gave many interviews late in his life about his involvement in the publication. Gilbert said that typesetting did not begin until after Grandin “went to ” to purchase five hundred pounds of new type, a trip that occurred after “Harris had promised to insure the payment for the printing.” If the actual printing indeed waited until Grandin returned from his trip to New York, must have begun copying the printer’s manuscript by the time Grandin was away, if not earlier.
Aside from approximate starting and ending dates, few indicators of progress in the copying effort survive. provided the only certain milepost when he informed JS in a 6 November 1829 letter that copying had been completed up through the first 261 pages. An event associated with ’s print shop also provides an approximate point of reference. printed the newspaper the Reflector on Grandin’s press at nights and on Sundays. Without authorization, Cole reprinted portions of the Book of Mormon’s book of Alma in the 22 January 1830 issue of the Reflector. A comparison of Cole’s excerpt and the 1830 printed edition shows that Cole rearranged type that had already been set for the book. This confirms that printing of the twenty-second sheet of the Book of Mormon (through page 352 of the 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon) had been completed by 22 January 1830. This same sheet roughly corresponds to the end of the twelfth gathering (through manuscript page 284) of the printer’s manuscript. By the time the printers had finished printing the twenty-second sheet, typesetting would certainly have begun on the twenty-third sheet, which corresponds roughly to the thirteenth gathering of the printer’s manuscript. The copying of the thirteenth gathering (through manuscript page 308) of the printer’s manuscript, therefore, would have been completed by 22 January 1830, though how far ahead the scribes were in creating the printer’s manuscript is unknown.
The pace of scribal work accelerated during the creation of the later portion of the manuscript. and scribe 2 appear to have coordinated efforts to finish the manuscript more quickly than could one scribe alone. While scribe 2 was working on the eighteenth and nineteenth gatherings (beginning with manuscript page 393), Cowdery bypassed his scribal colleague and began chapter 1 of the book of Ether on a new gathering (beginning with manuscript page 429). By the time both scribes finished their respective copying, scribe 2 had caught up to where Cowdery began (the twentieth gathering); Cowdery then finished the final words of the manuscript.
With the first portion of the printer’s manuscript in hand, Gilbert began setting type using the five hundred pounds of new small pica type had purchased for the project. Though a compositor at times marked up the manuscript ahead of typesetting, Gilbert also appears to have been skilled enough to add punctuation, capitalization, and paragraphing as he set type when a section of manuscript had not been marked up in advance. Only about 39 percent of the printer’s manuscript pages contain editing marks that were inserted in advance of typesetting. The original manuscript of the Book of Mormon contains virtually no punctuation, and the scribes for the printer’s manuscript added very little of their own. Gilbert eventually convinced , who was bringing the manuscript to the office every morning, to allow him to take it home so that he could punctuate the manuscript overnight before he had to set the type the next day. It is unknown, however, how consistently Gilbert took the manuscript home. Speaking of and Hyrum Smith, Gilbert remembered, “I called their attention to a grammatical error, and asked whether I should correct it? Harris consulted with Smith a short time, and turned to me and said; ‘The Old Testament is ungrammatical, set it as it is written.’” Gilbert, however, made occasional grammatical fixes—particularly at the end of the printing process.
Gilbert later asserted that he set the type for about 500 of the 589 printed pages. also set the type for a few pages, and when Gilbert “was hurried to get a form [that is, a series of pages of typeset text] ready for the press other compositors would be sent to help him.” On these occasions, Gilbert apparently cut the pages to facilitate the work. According to Gilbert, each printed sheet was checked against the manuscript to ensure the accuracy of the typesetting. This proofing was largely done by Cowdery. Gilbert recalled that the type was printed in a work-and-turn technique, so that two copies of each gathering were printed on each sheet. According to Gilbert, each form took three days to print prior to December 1829. Those in the shop continued to work two days per week on the Wayne Sentinel, a local newspaper. This allowed them time to set the type for an average of one and a third gatherings per week, print five thousand copies of that sheet, and return the type to the cases. In December, hired Thomas McAuley to assist printer in the press work, which Gilbert had been assisting with before that time, in addition to his work as compositor. Gilbert recalled that with McAuley’s help, they could typeset and print two forms of the Book of Mormon in one week.
Years later, during the winter of 1836–1837, JS and marked up the printer’s manuscript in preparation for the 1837 edition of the Book of Mormon. Most of the changes for that edition involved grammatical corrections or stylistic changes. The differences found in the 1837 edition compared with the 1830 are not always found marked in the printer’s manuscript, but when present, they are in the handwriting of JS. The preface to the second edition states that Smith and Cowdery “carefully re-examined and compared with the original manuscripts.” However, a comparison of the original manuscript, printer’s manuscript, and first edition indicates that only the printer’s manuscript and the first edition were used to prepare the second edition.
Following the 1837 publication, retained possession of the manuscript. Before he died in early 1850 in , Cowdery charged , his fellow Book of Mormon witness and brother-in-law, with the safekeeping of the manuscript. Many of those who believed in the miraculous origins of the Book of Mormon sought Whitmer out, hoping to view the manuscript. On such occasions, Whitmer confirmed his written testimony of the book’s authenticity, which had been published with the book. Many visitors remembered their pilgrimages to view the manuscript as powerful affirmations of the authenticity of the book. In 1884, Whitmer allowed members of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to consult the printer’s manuscript in order to compare the manuscript with the 1830 edition and the first RLDS edition of the Book of Mormon (1874). Following the acquisition of the manuscript by the RLDS church in 1903, the manuscript was normally stored in a bank vault and brought out only occasionally for display. The typesetters of the third RLDS edition of the Book of Mormon (1908) used the manuscript to make many corrections to the printed text.
Note: The transcript of the printer’s manuscript of the Book of Mormon on this website includes only the original inscriptions, not the later redactions made to the manuscript to prepare the text for publication. Readers will notice many discrepancies between the images and the transcript. For a transcript that includes the redactions, consult the facsimile images available by clicking on the book icon to the left of the images; see also Revelations and Translations, Volume 3, Part 1: Printer’s Manuscript of the Book of Mormon, 1 Nephi 1–Alma 35, facsimile ed. (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2015) and Revelations and Translations, Volume 3, Part 2: Printer’s Manuscript of the Book of Mormon, Alma 36–Moroni 10, facsimile ed. (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).
Footnotes
- [1]
“Mormonism,” Kansas City (MO) Daily Journal, 5 June 1881, [1]; Whitmer, Address to All Believers in Christ, 32; JS History, vol. A-1, 21–22, 34; Cannon, Journal, 27 Feb. 1884.
Kansas City Daily Journal. Kansas City, MO. 1878–1891.
Whitmer, David. An Address to All Believers in Christ. Richmond, MO: By the author, 1887.
Cannon, George Q. Journals, 1855–1864, 1872–1901. CHL. CR 850 1.
- [2]
Thurlow Weed, Statement, New York City, NY, 12 Apr. 1880, in Dickinson, New Light on Mormonism, 260–261.
Dickinson, Ellen E. New Light on Mormonism. New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1885.
- [3]
Tucker, Origin, Rise, and Progress of Mormonism, 52; John H. Gilbert, Memorandum, 8 Sept. 1892, photocopy, CHL. Gilbert recalled that Harris was hesitant to print the book in Rochester because that would mean paying for someone to stay in Rochester and visit Palmyra two or three times per week to retrieve the manuscript as scribes continued to copy the text.
Tucker, Pomeroy. Origin, Rise, and Progress of Mormonism: Biography of Its Founders and History of Its Church. New York: D. Appleton, 1867.
Gilbert, John H. Memorandum, 8 Sept. 1892. Photocopy. CHL. MS 9223.
- [4]
John H. Gilbert, Memorandum, 8 Sept. 1892, photocopy, CHL; see also Historical Introduction to Book of Mormon Manuscript Excerpt, ca. June 1829 [1 Nephi 2:2b–3:18a]; and Historical Introduction to Revelation, ca. Summer 1829 [D&C 19].
Gilbert, John H. Memorandum, 8 Sept. 1892. Photocopy. CHL. MS 9223.
- [5]
Martin Harris to Egbert B. Grandin, Indenture, Wayne Co., NY, 25 Aug. 1829, Wayne Co., NY, Mortgage Records, vol. 3, pp. 325–326, microfilm 479,556, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; John H. Gilbert, Memorandum, 8 Sept. 1892, photocopy, CHL; see also Historical Introduction to Book of Mormon Manuscript Excerpt, ca. June 1829 [1 Nephi 2:2b–3:18a]; and Historical Introduction to Revelation, ca. Summer 1829 [D&C 19].
U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.
Gilbert, John H. Memorandum, 8 Sept. 1892. Photocopy. CHL. MS 9223.
- [6]
Revelation, July 1828 [D&C 3].
- [7]
Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1844–1845, bk. 9, [2].
- [8]
Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1844–1845, bk. 9, [2].
- [9]
Book of Mormon, Printer’s Manuscript, ca. Aug. 1829–ca. Jan. 1830, pp. 1–144 [Mosiah 18:4].
- [10]
Book of Mormon, Printer’s Manuscript, ca. Aug. 1829–ca. Jan. 1830, pp. 145–168 [Mosiah 18:4–29:39].
- [11]
Book of Mormon, Printer’s Manuscript, ca. Aug. 1829–ca. Jan. 1830, pp. 169–188 [Mosiah 29:39–Alma 8:16].
- [12]
Book of Mormon, Printer’s Manuscript, ca. Aug. 1829–ca. Jan. 1830, pp. 189–392 [3 Nephi 18:30].
- [13]
Book of Mormon, Printer’s Manuscript, ca. Aug. 1829–ca. Jan. 1830, pp. 393–428 [Mormon 9:37].
- [14]
Skousen, “Oliver Cowdery as Book of Mormon Scribe,” 54–56.
Skousen, Royal. “Oliver Cowdery as Book of Mormon Scribe.” In Days Never to Be Forgotten: Oliver Cowdery, edited by Alexander L. Baugh, 51–72. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2009.
- [15]
Martin Harris to Egbert B. Grandin, Indenture, Wayne Co., NY, 25 Aug. 1829, Wayne Co., NY, Mortgage Records, vol. 3, pp. 325–326, microfilm 479,556, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; see also Historical Introduction to Revelation, ca. Summer 1829 [D&C 19].
U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.
- [16]
“Mormon Leaders at Their Mecca,” New York Herald, 25 June 1893, 12. Grandin considered Harris’s 25 August 1829 mortgage to be payment for the printing. (See Historical Introduction to Revelation, ca. Summer 1829 [D&C 19].)
New York Herald. New York City. 1835–1924.
- [17]
If Grandin began his trip to New York City after 25 August 1829, he would not have returned until several weeks later.
- [18]
In a letter to JS, Oliver Cowdery wrote, “I have Just got to alma commandment to his Son in coppyinng the manscrip.” In the book of Alma, Alma the younger gave instruction and counsel to his three sons. This instruction begins on page 261 of the printer’s manuscript. (Letter from Oliver Cowdery, 6 Nov. 1829; Book of Mormon, Printer’s Manuscript, ca. Aug. 1829–ca. Jan. 1830, pp. 261–274 [Alma 36–42].)
- [19]
“Book of Mormon,” Reflector (Palmyra, NY), 22 Jan. 1830, 27–28; see also Book of Mormon, Printer’s Manuscript, ca. Aug. 1829–ca. Jan. 1830, pp. 276–277 [Alma 43:22–40]. Cole, who used Grandin’s printing equipment on evenings and Sundays to publish his newspaper, first published extracts from the Book of Mormon in his 2 January and 13 January issues. Upon discovering Cole’s pirated printing of the Book of Mormon, Oliver Cowdery, Hyrum Smith, and others sent for JS who, according to later reminiscences, quickly returned to Palmyra from Harmony, Pennsylvania, and confronted Cole, who agreed to cease publication. No excerpts appeared in the Reflector after 22 January. (“The First Book of Nephi,” Reflector [Palmyra, NY], 2 Jan. 1830, 9; “The First Book of Nephi,” Reflector [Palmyra, NY], 13 Jan. 1830, 17; see also JSP, D1:27–28; and Historical Introduction to Letter from Oliver Cowdery, 28 Dec. 1829.)
Reflector. Palmyra, NY. 1821–1831.
JSP, D1 / MacKay, Michael Hubbard, Gerrit J. Dirkmaat, Grant Underwood, Robert J. Woodford, and William G. Hartley, eds. Documents, Volume 1: July 1828–June 1831. Vol. 1 of the Document 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, 2013.
- [20]
In five instances, Cole forgot to add a space when he moved a word at the end of one line next to a word at the beginning of the next line. This mistake indicates the type used by Cole in his newspaper was rearranged by Cole from the type used in the 1830 printing. Cole had to introduce or remove end-of-line hyphens to fit the narrower columns of his newspaper.
- [21]
While this rushed effort may indicate the scribes had fallen behind in their copying, it is possible that the pace of copying accelerated because early church members needed the printer’s manuscript to obtain a copyright for the Book of Mormon in Canada. (See Revelation, ca. Early 1830; see also Skousen, “Why Was One Sixth of the 1830 Book of Mormon Set from the Original Manuscript?,” 93–103.)
Skousen, Royal. “Why Was One Sixth of the 1830 Book of Mormon Set from the Original Manuscript?” Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 2 (2012): 93–103.
- [22]
“Mormon Leaders at Their Mecca,” New York Herald, 25 June 1893, 12. Before standard measurements of type size, names were used for sizes. “Small pica” corresponds roughly to 11-point size type. (See Pasko, American Dictionary of Printing, 521–522, as excerpted in Rummonds, Nineteenth-Century Printing Practices, 1:234.)
New York Herald. New York City. 1835–1924.
Pasko, Wesley Washington. American Dictionary of Printing and Bookmaking, Containing a History of These Arts in Europe and America, with Definitions of Technical Terms and Biographical Sketches. New York: Howard Lockwood, 1894. As excerpted in Richard-Gabriel Rummonds, Nineteenth-Century Printing Practices and the Iron Handpress, 2 vols. (New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Press, 2004).
- [23]
John H. Gilbert, Memorandum, 8 Sept. 1892, photocopy, CHL. Some punctuation appears to have been added in ink when Gilbert took the manuscript home for several nights to punctuate the Isaiah excerpts with the help of his King James Version of the Bible. Most of the punctuation added by Gilbert, however, was inscribed in pencil—probably in the print shop. (See Skousen, “John Gilbert’s 1892 Account,” 63–67.)
Gilbert, John H. Memorandum, 8 Sept. 1892. Photocopy. CHL. MS 9223.
Skousen, Royal. “Worthy of Another Look: John Gilbert’s 1892 Account of the 1830 Printing of the Book of Mormon.” Journal of the Book of Mormon an Other Restoration Scripture 21, no. 2 (2012): 58–72.
- [24]
John H. Gilbert, Memorandum, 8 Sept. 1892, photocopy, CHL; see also “Mormon Leaders at Their Mecca,” New York Herald, 25 June 1893, 12.
Gilbert, John H. Memorandum, 8 Sept. 1892. Photocopy. CHL. MS 9223.
New York Herald. New York City. 1835–1924.
- [25]
See Skousen, “John Gilbert’s 1892 Account,” 63.
Skousen, Royal. “Worthy of Another Look: John Gilbert’s 1892 Account of the 1830 Printing of the Book of Mormon.” Journal of the Book of Mormon an Other Restoration Scripture 21, no. 2 (2012): 58–72.
- [26]
Andrew Jenson et al., “The Hill Cumorah,” Deseret Evening News (Salt Lake City), 11 Oct. 1888, [2].
Deseret News. Salt Lake City. 1850–.
- [27]
John H. Gilbert, Palmyra, NY, to James T. Cobb, Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, 10 Feb. 1879, in Theodore Schroeder Papers . . . Relating to Mormonism; Andrew Jenson et al., “The Hill Cumorah,” Deseret Evening News (Salt Lake City), 11 Oct. 1888, [2].
Gilbert, John H. Letter, Palmyra, NY, to James T. Cobb, Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, 10 Feb. 1879. Theodore Schroeder Papers: Corres., Writings and Printed Ephemera Relating to Mormonism. Microfilm. New York: New York Public Library Photographic Service, 1986. Copy at CHL.
Deseret News. Salt Lake City. 1850–.
- [28]
“Cowdery held and looked over the manuscript when most of the proofs were read. Martin Harris once or twice, and Hyrum Smith once.” Gilbert further recalled that “but very little punctuation was altered in proof-reading.” (John H. Gilbert, Memorandum, 8 Sept. 1892, photocopy, CHL.)
Gilbert, John H. Memorandum, 8 Sept. 1892. Photocopy. CHL. MS 9223.
- [29]
John H. Gilbert, Memorandum, 8 Sept. 1892, photocopy, CHL.
Gilbert, John H. Memorandum, 8 Sept. 1892. Photocopy. CHL. MS 9223.
- [30]
John H. Gilbert, Memorandum, 8 Sept. 1892, photocopy, CHL.
Gilbert, John H. Memorandum, 8 Sept. 1892. Photocopy. CHL. MS 9223.
- [31]
John H. Gilbert, Memorandum, 8 Sept. 1892, photocopy, CHL; Wayne County (NY) Journal, 3 May 1883, in Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, 2:545n10.
Gilbert, John H. Memorandum, 8 Sept. 1892. Photocopy. CHL. MS 9223.
Vogel, Dan, ed. Early Mormon Documents. 5 vols. Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1996–2003.
- [32]
“Preface,” Book of Mormon, 1837 ed., [v].
- [33]
Skousen, Printer’s Manuscript, 18.
Skousen, Royal, ed. The Printer’s Manuscript of the Book of Mormon: Typographical Facsimile of the Entire Text in Two Parts. Part 1, Copyright, 1830 Preface, 1 Nephi 1:0–Alma 17:26. Provo, UT: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, Brigham Young University, 2001.
- [34]
“Mormonism,” Kansas City (MO) Daily Journal, 5 June 1881, [1].
Kansas City Daily Journal. Kansas City, MO. 1878–1891.
- [35]
See, for example, Cannon, Journal, 27 Feb. 1884; and Stevenson, Journal, 2 Jan. 1887.
Cannon, George Q. Journals, 1855–1864, 1872–1901. CHL. CR 850 1.
Stevenson, Edward. Journals, 1852–1896. Edward Stevenson, Collection, 1849–1922. CHL. MS 4806, boxes 1–4.
- [36]
“Book of Mormon Committee Report,” Saints’ Herald, 23 Aug. 1884, 545–548.
Saints’ Herald. Independence, MO. 1860–.
- [37]
Skousen, Book of Mormon: The Earliest Text, 741.
Skousen, Royal, ed. The Book of Mormon: The Earliest Text. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2009.
The Book of Mormon—— An account written by the hand of Mormon upon plates taken from the plates of Nephi wherefore it is an abridgment of the record of the People of Nephi & also of the Lamanites written to the Lamanites which are a remnant of the house of Israel & also to Jew & Gentile written by way of commandment & also by the spirit of Prophesy & of revelation written & sealed up & hid up unto the Lord that they might not be destroid to come forth by the gift & power of God unto the interpretation thereof sealed by the hand of Moroni & hiid hid up unto the Lord to come forth in due time by the way of Gentile the interpretation thereof by the gift of God an abridgment taken from the Book of Ether also which as <is> a record of the People of Jared which were scattered at the time the Lord confounded the language of the People when they were building a tower to get to heaven which is to shew unto the remnant of the house of Israel how great things the Lord hath done for their fathers & that they may know the covenants of the Lord that they are not cast off forever & also to the convinceing of the Jew & Gentile that Jesus is the Christ the Eternal God manifesting himself unto all Nations & now if there be fault it be the mistake of men wherefore condemn not the things of God that ye may be found spotless at the Judgment seat of Christ
—— By Joseph Smith Juniour Author & proprietor
| Northen District of } | to wit<.> |
Be it remembered that on the eleventh day of June in the fifty third year of the independance of the A.D 1829 Joseph Smith Junior of the sai said Destrict hath deposited in this office the title of a Book the right whereof he claims a author in the words following to wit
Tthe Book of Mormon. . &.C.—— By Joseph Smith Junor Author & propri <propriet[or]>
Cherk of the Destrict cort for the Northren District of [p. [i]]
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Footnotes
Oliver Cowdery handwriting begins.