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

564 Pages·2001·71.893 MB·English

by  Royal Skousen

THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT OF
THE BOOK OF MORMON
IN THIS SERIES
Volume One
The Original Manuscript
Volume Two
The Printer’s Manuscript
PART ONE
Copyright
1830 Preface
1 Nephi 1:0 - Alma 17:26
PART TWO
Alma 17:26 - Moroni 10:34
Testimony of Three Witnesses
Testimony of Eight Witnesses
The Original
Manuscript of
the Book of Mormon
Typographical Facsimile of the Extant Text
EDITED BY
Royal Skousen
THE FOUNDATION FOR ANCIENT RESEARCH AND MORMON STUDIES
BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY
PROVO, UTAH
2001
© 2001 Royal Skousen and the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies
All rights reserved.
This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part,
including photographs and illustrations, in any form,
including but not limited to printed, electronic, or digital means,
without written permission from the copyright holders.
Photographs used by permission:
plates l, 12-16
courtesy of the Wilford Wood Foundation
photography by David W. Hawkinson
© Wilford Wood Foundation
plates 2-3, 5-11
courtesy of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
photography by Ernst Koehler
© Intellectual Reserve, Inc.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGUING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Book of Mormon.
The Original Manuscript of the Book of Mormon : typographical facsimile of the
extant text / edited by Royal Skousen. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibiliographical references.
ISBN 0-934893-04-7 (alk. paper)
I. Skousen, Royal. II. Title.
BX8623 2001
289.3'22 — dc2i
00-054660
ISBN 0-934893-04-7
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
FIRST EDITION
Table of Contents
viz List of Photographs of the Original Manuscript
■ Introduction
3 Overview of the Book of Mormon
4 The Book of Mormon Critical Text Project
5 A Brief History of the Original Manuscript
7 Layout of a Typical Page
Heading
Lines of Text
Notes
Page Number in this Volume
10 The Transcription System
An Overview
13 Source of Symbols
13 Detailed Description and Examples
Scribes
Compositor’s Marks
Joseph Smith’s Editing
Conjectured Text
Insertions
Deletions
Overwriting
Spacing Adjustments
Missing a Stroke
Adding an Extra Stroke
Special Symbols
Headings
26 On the Need for Detail
Adding an Extra Stroke
Missing a Stroke
Extra Dots and Crossings
Unclear Letters
Missing Text
Spacing Considerations
Overwriting
THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT OF THE BOOK OF MORMON [ V ]
On the Need for Detail (continued)
Differences in Writing Medium
Compositor’s Marks
Ink Seepage and Staining
Oliver Cowdery’s Temperament
Stray Ink Drops and Strokes
33 Physical Description of the Original Manuscript
Page Numbers on Manuscript
Gatherings
Locations of Extant Text
Paper Types
Placement of Extant Fragments
Paper Size
39 Photographs of the Original Manuscript (plates 1-16)
55 Acknowledgments
■ Typographical Facsimile
Extant Text of the Original Manuscript
GATHERING PAGINATION IN MS. EXTENT OF TEXT
62 Bl 3-22 1 Nephi 2:2-13:35
122 B2 25-48 1 Nephi 14:11 - 2 Nephi 1:30
172 b3 55-64 2 Nephi 4:32-9:42
186 b4 77-82 2 Nephi 23:0-25:28
192 b5 95-102 2 Nephi 33:4 - Jacob 4:14
200 B6 IO7-II4 Jacob 5:46 - Enos 1:14
212 A10 225'-228 ' Alma 10:31-11:46
231 '-234' Alma 12:18-13:16
228 An 25i'-256' Alma 19:3-20:22
238 Al2 261'—356' Alma 22:22-60:22
476 A13 359 -370' Alma 61:11 - Helaman 3:21
501 A14 397-408' Helaman 13:36 - 3 Nephi 4:2
521 Al6 429-432' 3 Nephi 19:26-21:11
435 -436' 3 Nephi 26:4-27:7
527 Ai 7 457 -472' Ether 3:9-15:17
vi THE ORIGINAL M AN USCRIPT OF THE BOOK OF MORMON
List of Photographs of the Original Manuscript
PLATE
1 Reconstruction of fragments from page 81, plus color photograph, 2 Nephi 25:16-18
2 Reconstruction of a clump of fragments from pages 225'-234', Alma 10-13
3 Reconstruction of a clump of fragments from pages 25i'-256Alma 19-20
4 Illustrated reconstruction of gatherings B3-B6, based on fragments from 2 Nephi 4 - Enos 1
5 Black-and-white ultraviolet photograph of page 4, 1 Nephi 2:23-3:18; handwriting of Oliver
Cowdery and unidentified scribes 2 and 3
6 Black-and-white ultraviolet photograph of page 6, 1 Nephi 4:2-20; handwriting of unidentified
scribe 2 and Oliver Cowdery
7 Black-and-white ultraviolet photograph of page 7, 1 Nephi 4:20-37; handwriting of unidentified
scribe 3
8 Black-and-white ultraviolet photograph of page 315', Alma 45:17-46:6; handwriting of Oliver
Cowdery, plus 28 words in Joseph Smith’s hand
9 Black-and-white ultraviolet photograph of page 18, 1 Nephi 11:32-12:8; Oliver Cowdery’s later
emendation of text originally written down by unidentified scribe 3
10 Black-and-white ultraviolet photograph of page 366', Helaman 1:6-17; Oliver Cowdery’s
immediate correction of spelling Coriantummer to Coriantumr
11 Black-and-white ultraviolet photograph of page 307', Alma 42:29-43:10; Oliver Cowdery’s
penciled correction based on the 1830 edition
12 Black-and-white ultraviolet photographs of pages 111-112, Jacob 6-7; Oliver Cowdery’s page
numbers in upper, outer corner of each page
13 Color photograph, plus black-and-white ultraviolet photograph of page 59, 2 Nephi 7:1-9;
text in original manuscript closely follows the King James text of Isaiah 50
14 Color photograph, plus black-and-white photograph of page 113, Jacob 7:26 - Enos 1 :i;
Jacob’s final adieu
15 Color photograph, plus black-and-white photograph of pages 464-465', Ether 9:33-10:7;
Oliver Cowdery’s writing goes across the entire inner side of the center sheet of the gathering
16 Color photograph, plus black-and-white photograph of page 400', Helaman 15:9-14;
punctuation marks made in pencil by 1830 typesetter, John Gilbert
[
THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT OF THE BOOK OF MORMON vii ]

The Original Manuscript
of the Book of Mormon