- -Commentary by Rick Grunder, a Syracuse, New York, antiquarian bookseller whose catalogs on Mormonism describe rare and collectible books, manuscripts, and artifacts relating to the origins of the movement
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The Book of Mormon has generally come to most people
as a surprise: to the farm boy beckoned from his sleep by an
angel in the 1820s, to critics astonished that anyone would take the
work seriously, and to millions of readers professing a personal witness
that the book is not only authentic, but divine. It is unavoidably controversial
and enigmatic, and if hundreds of millions of people have heard of this
text, relatively few have examined it long enough to form an original
opinion of what it may actually be; most of the ten million Mormons
worldwide have never seen this cornerstone of their religion as it was
first published.
In this plain, simple volume is the complete text, plus an extremely rare four-page index, as printed for Joseph Smith by Egbert Grandin, in Palmyra, New York. Much of The Book of Mormon speaks not merely from its own era, but from its own decade and the very counties from which it emerged. It remains one of the most influential books in the history of religion, and – after the New Testament – the most frequently translated of all religious texts.
The original book imaged for this digital edition:
7 1/2 x 4 9/16 inches (191 x 116 mm)
In this plain, simple volume is the complete text, plus an extremely rare four-page index, as printed for Joseph Smith by Egbert Grandin, in Palmyra, New York. Much of The Book of Mormon speaks not merely from its own era, but from its own decade and the very counties from which it emerged. It remains one of the most influential books in the history of religion, and – after the New Testament – the most frequently translated of all religious texts.
The original book imaged for this digital edition:
7 1/2 x 4 9/16 inches (191 x 116 mm)
Life As Seen Through an Index
The rare, four-page index at the end of Octavo’s Edition of the Book of Mormon (1830) is more than a bibliographical curiosity, though it is also that. Virtually nothing is known about the production of the index. It was not designed as part of the original printing but refers to the 1830 edition rather than to the second edition (1836-7) or subsequent editions. The index contains 250 entries – less than one entry for every two pages of the Book of Mormon – each of which offers a glimpse of the interests and preoccupations of readers contemporary with the appearance of the book. Several entries identify characters in the Book of Mormon as universalists or universalians, referring to the Universalist theology of the early nineteenth century. Others touch on more pragmatic concerns of American life in the 1830s: the clearing and cultivation of land, the building of houses, communitarian movements, etc. The rare contents list of “References” to the Book of Mormon serves as an anchor to remind sophisticated scholars of all persuasions that whatever they may see in the book today, it may not necessarily be what made it relevant to the first generation of adherents who secured its survival and success.
The rare, four-page index at the end of Octavo’s Edition of the Book of Mormon (1830) is more than a bibliographical curiosity, though it is also that. Virtually nothing is known about the production of the index. It was not designed as part of the original printing but refers to the 1830 edition rather than to the second edition (1836-7) or subsequent editions. The index contains 250 entries – less than one entry for every two pages of the Book of Mormon – each of which offers a glimpse of the interests and preoccupations of readers contemporary with the appearance of the book. Several entries identify characters in the Book of Mormon as universalists or universalians, referring to the Universalist theology of the early nineteenth century. Others touch on more pragmatic concerns of American life in the 1830s: the clearing and cultivation of land, the building of houses, communitarian movements, etc. The rare contents list of “References” to the Book of Mormon serves as an anchor to remind sophisticated scholars of all persuasions that whatever they may see in the book today, it may not necessarily be what made it relevant to the first generation of adherents who secured its survival and success.
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