The Original Manuscript of the Book of Mormon: Typographical Facsimile of the Extant Text

Provo: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, Brigham Young University, 2001. First Edition. 553pp. Quarto [31 cm] Dark blue buckram with the title gilt stamped on the front board and backstrip. Near fine. This work is part of the ambitious Book of Mormon critical text project, and the work of its driving force the editor, Royal Skousen, who has pored over Joseph Smith’s original manuscripts and the printer's manuscript. Royal Skousen (b.1945) was a professor of linguistics and English at Brigham Young University, who spent much of his career researching the text of the Book of Mormon, and is the leading expert on the textual history of the (truncated) Book of Mormon.

The first edition of the Book of Mormon [1830] is the cornerstone of the Mormon faith. Printed in edition of 5,000 copies by E. B. Grandin at his print shop in Palmyra, NY. The type was set and the manuscript was corrected of spelling and punctuation errors by John Gilbert. Because this manuscript was being corrected as the book was actively printed, and before the sheets where folded and bound, there are many variants of the 1830 Book of Mormon. (Inventory #: 10487)