The Printer's Manuscript of the Book of Mormon: Typographical Facsimile of the Entire Facsimile in Two Parts; The Original Manuscript of the Book of Mormon: Typographical Facsimile of the Extant Text (3 volumes)

Skousen, Royal

Published by The Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, 2001

SIGNED. 979; 553pp. Quarto [31 cm] Blue cloth covered boards with gilt stamped titles. Several of the boards are gently bumped and scuffed at the corners. Minor stain to lower fore-edge of the text block of Part One. Internally clean and bright. A very attractive set. May require extra postage due to weight. All three volumes are signed by Royal Skousen on the title pages. Skousen spent thirty-six years acutely analyzing the textual history of the Book of Mormon. These three volumes add to any scholarly study of the Book of Mormon. From the Introduction- "There are two manuscripts of the Book of Mormon. The first is the original manuscript, which the scribes wrote down as Joseph Smith dictated the text. The second is the printer's manuscript, which is a copy made from the original manuscript. For five-sixths of the printed Book of Mormon, the printer's manuscript was the copytext used by the printer for setting the type for the 1830 edition. This copy was not made all at once, but instead was produced as the printer needed the copy. The first gathering of 24 pages of the printer's manuscript was produced in August 1829 and taken to the printing shop of E.B. Grandin in Palmyra, New York, to start the typesetting for the 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon. Later, as the printer needed more copy, the scribes produced additional pages of the printer's manuscript. "These scribes produced the printer's manuscript: Oliver Cowdery (who did about 85 percent of the manuscript), an unknown scribe (who did about 15 percent), and Hyrum Smith (Joseph Smith's brother), who occasionally substituted (but only briefly) for the unknown scribe. The copying done by these scribes is quite accurate, with an average of about three changes per manuscript page (not counting spelling variants). A minority of these changes make a difference in meaning. "For nearly one-sixth of the current Book of Mormon text (from somewhere between verses 7 and 18 in Heleman to the end of Mormon), the original manuscript rather than the printer's manuscript was taken to the printer's shop and used to set type for the 1830 edition. The individuals responsible for producing the printer's manuscript and overseeing the printing- Oliver Cowdery, Martin Harris, and Hyrum Smith- probably fell behind in their copywork and allowed the original manuscript to be used by the printer until they caught up with their copying. "Later, the printer's manuscript was used by Joseph Smith for making editorial changes for the second edition of the Book of Mormon (1837, Kirtland, Ohio). Joseph's corrections (almost all of which are grammatical in nature) are in heavy black ink and are found throughout the printer's manuscript.". Seller Inventory # 67607

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Printer's Manuscript of the Book of ...
Publisher: The Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT
Publication Date: 2001
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Very Good +
Signed: Signed by Author(s)
Edition: First edition.