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| Book of Commandments and Revelations |
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| The manuscript Book of Commandments and Revelations contains the earliest known text of at least fifty of the 110 Joseph Smith revelations in the volume. A facsimilie edition of the compilation was published in Volume 1 of The Joseph Smith Papers: Revelations and Translations, Manuscript Revelation Books (Historian's Press, an imprint of the LDS Church History Department, 2009). Edited by Robin Scott Jensen, Robert J. Woodford, and Steven C. Harper, the facsimile edition provides scholars and the general public to study more deeply the evolution of revelations received between 1828 and 1834. |
| Also included in Volume 1 is the Kirtland Revelations book, which has long been available to scholars at the Church Archives/Historical Department. |
| Its existence was unknown until the First Presidency made it available for publication as volume 1 in the Revelations and Translations series of the Joseph Smith Papers. Begun in late 1830 (in my opinion), the volume contains one hundred ten revelations received between 1828 and 1834. It was the primary source for the Book of Commandments (1833) and some changes made in the Doctrine and Covenants (1835). John Whitmer was the primary scribe. |
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Joseph Smith Papers
Revelations and Translations series |
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The Joseph Smith Papers: Revelations and Translations, Manuscript Revelation Books, Volume 1 (
MRB
The Joseph Smith Papers: Revelations and Translations, Manuscript Revelation Books, comprised of BCR and FWR with annotations, edited by Robin Scott Jensen, Robert J. Woodford, and Steven C. Harper (Salt Lake City: The Church Historian's Press, 2009).
) was published by the Historian's Press, an imprint of the LDS Church History Department, in 2009. It was edited by Robin Scott Jensen, Robert J. Woodford, and Steven C. Harper. General editors of The Joseph Smith Papers are Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman. |
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MRB editors refer to BCR as Revelation Book 1 and KRB as Revelation Book 2. Saints Without Halos uses BCR and KRB.
"Revelation Books 1 and 2 are "editorial titles … consistent with the widespread documentary editing practice of referring to documents by generic titles." Robert J. Woodford, "Introducing A Book of Commandments and Revelations, A Major New Documentary 'Discovery,'" BYU Studies 48, no. 3 (2009), 7.
The original BCR probably contained 216 pages, but some are missing. Several were discovered in John Whitmer's copy of Joseph's Bible revisions in posession of the Community of Christ, formerly the RLDS Churcht. The whereabouts of other pages are unknown: 3–10, 15–22, and 25–26. The index indicates these pages contained the last part of D&C 4, and Sections 5, 6, 11, 14, 18, 15, 16, and 17. |
| Revelation volumes |
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Volume 1 of the Manuscript Revelation series contains the Book of Commandments and Revelations (
BCR
Book of Commandments and Revelations, titled "Revelation Book 1" in Manuscript Revelation Books, edited by Robin Scott Jensen, Robert J. Woodford, and Steven C. Harper, (Salt Lake City: The Church Historian's Press, 2009). This is the first volume in the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers.
) and the Kirtland Revelations book ([SHOWREF=krb). |
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| Provenance |
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Where has BCR been all these years? It is referred to in inventories of the Church Historian's Office through 1878. Apparently Church Historian and Apostle Joseph Fielding Smith took possession of the volume as early as 1907. When he became Church President in 1970, BCR was incorporated into the First Presidency's papers. |
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Scribes and redactors
Source document |
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John Whitmer was the primary scribe for BCR. Oliver Cowdery and an unknown scribe wrote a few revelations and Sidney Rigdon wrote one. Redactions were made by Oliver Cowdery, John Whitmer, Sidney Rigdon, Joseph Smith, and others while preparing it as the primary source for revelations published in the Evening and Morning Star, Book of Commandments, and Doctrine and Covenants (1835). |
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| Beginning date |
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MRB editors believe John may have begun copying the revelations as early as the summer of 1830 when he and Joseph began to "arrange and copy the revelations." But "[m]ore likely" he began "in Ohio, circa March 1831." |
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John was called to "keep a regular history"
and assist Joseph in "translating all things" on March 8. A month later, he was "appointed to keep the Church
record & History." |
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MRB
The Joseph Smith Papers: Revelations and Translations, Manuscript Revelation Books, comprised of BCR and FWR with annotations, edited by Robin Scott Jensen, Robert J. Woodford, and Steven C. Harper (Salt Lake City: The Church Historian's Press, 2009).
, 4–5.
MH-A
Manuscript History of the Church (December 1805-August 30, 1834), 553 pages numbered from the "back" of Joseph's "large journal" (A-1), written June 11, 1839-Aug. 24, 1843. Selected Collections 1:1, Volume 1 // “Joseph Smith History, 1839” (first 93 pages), Early Mormon Documents 1:56-148; “History, 1839” (first 240 pages), Papers of Joseph Smith 1:265-386. Original, Church Archives, CR 100 102, Volume 1.
, 50.
D&C 47
Minutes of April 9, 1831. |
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In late December, he wrote, "The Lord manifested himself to Joseph the Revelator and gave him commandment for me to go to the Ohio, and carry the commandments and revelations, with me, to comfort and strengthen my brethren in that land." |
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J. Whitmer
From Historian to Dissident: The Book of John Whitmer, edited by Bruce N. Westergren (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1995 ).
, 13.
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One revelation John certainly would have taken was the founding document known as the Articles and Covenants of the Church of Christ (D&C 20). But John did not copy it until after the revelation of January 2, 1831 (D&C 38). |
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"A
young gentleman by the name of Whitmer arrived here last week … with a new batch of revelations
from God, as he pretended, which have just been communicated to Joseph Smith." Painesville Telegraph, Jan. 18, 1831. Source |
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Then he resumed the chronological pattern with the revelations of January 5 and 6 (D&C 39 and 40) before leaving for Kirtland. He arrived there around the 10th of the month. |
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A December 1830 revelation (D&C 74) is also out of order. In November 1831 John took the book to Missouri to be published. About half of the November 1831–June 1834 revelations are out of order. |
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| Redactions |
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Changes to BCR were made by five redactors while preparing the revelations for publication. BCR editors use color coding to identify redactors with the changes they made. SWH uses Oliver Cowdery, John Whitmer, Sidney Rigdon, Unidentified, and Joseph Smith. |
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| Editorial method |
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MRB
The Joseph Smith Papers: Revelations and Translations, Manuscript Revelation Books, comprised of BCR and FWR with annotations, edited by Robin Scott Jensen, Robert J. Woodford, and Steven C. Harper (Salt Lake City: The Church Historian's Press, 2009).
presents full-color photos of every manuscript page and opposite, a letter-by-letter transcript with textual annotations. Color-coded revisions identify redactors, right down to commas and colons. Partially erased, written-over, smeared, or otherwise illegible letters are deciphered. Every jot and tittle, including "misshapen" letters and pin holes are documented. Example: "I" wipe-erased and then "& I" stricken. |
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The Documents series will include volumes of earliest known versions without redactions. Historical annotations and associated documents will be provided in these volumes. |
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| Works Cited |
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Works Cited is not included but will be available online (josephsmithpapers.org) sometime in the future. For now, one must consult the bibliography of Journals, Volume 1 to learn that
MRB
The Joseph Smith Papers: Revelations and Translations, Manuscript Revelation Books, comprised of BCR and FWR with annotations, edited by Robin Scott Jensen, Robert J. Woodford, and Steven C. Harper (Salt Lake City: The Church Historian's Press, 2009).
refers to the Kirtland Council Minute Book and the Far West Record by their (future) "editorial titles," Minute Book 1 and Minute Book 2. |
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| Table of Contents |
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Revelations are not listed in the Table of Contents. Since there is no Index, one must turn to the table in Correspondence of Items in Revelation Books 1 and 2 with Selected Published Versions (691–694)—hardly an intuitive location. Since the table is in chronological, not section order, a few revelations must be hunted down (D&C 20, 133, 107 (partial), and 99) by scanning the 1981 column. (Other out-of-order sections are easily found in close proximity to one another). |
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| Index |
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An indexwill be published as a separate volume in the future, but for now a 58-page PDF version is available on the Internet. |
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| Typographical errors |
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Typos are inevitable, but so far I have encountered only one, in a description of the backward-f often substituted for the standard s, usually as the first- of a double-s: "The long [empty box] often used in nineteenth-century handwriting …" (p. 684). The box is a placeholder which should have been replaced by an image of the character. |
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| Other Joseph Smith Papers series |
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The first of the three-volume Journals series was published in 2008.We understand 60,000 copies have been printed and sales seem to warrant the large run. The editors of Volume 1, 1832–1839 are Dean C. Jessee, Mark Ashurst-McGee, and Richard L. Jensen. |
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| Copyright revelation |
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One of the greatest discoveries in BCR is early 1830 revelation instructing Oliver Cowdery, Joseph Knight, Hiram Page, and Josiah Stowell to go to Canada and sell the Canadian copyright to the Book of Mormon. |
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Copyright revelation |
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It is anticipated that the next volume, the first in the History series, will be released next October.Other series are Documents, Legal and Business, and Administrative. Information about all series is available at the Joseph Smith Papers website. |
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Book of Commandments, Books A, B, C
Kirtland Revelations Book
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