Printer's Manuscript of the Book of Mormon, Alma 36-Moroni 10

The Joseph Smith Papers: Revelations and Translations #4

by Royal Skousen, Robin Scott Jensen

This volume of The Joseph Smith Papers provides a facsimile edition of the printer's manuscript of the Book of Mormon. Because of the length of the printer's manuscript, this volume has been split into two parts: Part 1 contains introductory and explanatory materials, the copyright and preface pages of the printer's manuscript, and the text of the Book of Mormon from 1 Nephi through Alma 35. Part 2 contains the text of the Book of Mormon from Alma 36 through Moroni 10, statements of Book of Mormon witnesses, and reference material, including a chronology, a biographical register, and a table documenting how the printer's manuscript was used in printing the 1830 and 1837 editions of the Book of Mormon.

Genres: Religion

447 pages, Hardcover

First published August 3, 2015

About the author

Royal Jon Skousen is a professor of linguistics and English at Brigham Young University (BYU), where he is editor of the Book of Mormon Critical Text Project. He is "the leading expert on the textual history of the Book of Mormon" and the founder of the analogical modeling approach to language modeling.

Reviews

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading the Book of Mormon from the manuscript used to print the first edition. It felt really close to Joseph Smith's translation, like I was present as he dictated to Oliver Cowdery and whomever the mysterious "Scribe 2" was (Joseph Smith Sr.?).

The experience also increased my faith. The complexity of the Book is difficult to attribute to an unschooled man in New York. But all of the changes Joseph Smith made to the manuscript for the 1837 edition of the Book of Mormon, many of which he apparently made on this manuscript, are a reminder to me of the human involvement in the translation process. The words used may have come to us through Joseph but the message is from God. So it is natural for there to be some awkward phrases and a few minor errors.