“EXTREMELY RARE… CONSIDERABLY RARER THAN THE FIRST” (ROSENBACH): SECOND EDITION OF THE BOOK OF MORMON, 1837, IN CONTEMPORARY SHEEP

(BOOK OF MORMON) SMITH, Joseph. The Book of Mormon: An Account Written by the Hand of Mormon, Upon Plates Taken from the Plates of Nephi… Kirtland, Ohio: Printed by O. Cowdery & Co. for P.P. Pratt and J. Goodson, 1837. 12mo, contemporary full sheep gilt, brown morocco spine label. Housed in a custom clamshell box.

Rare second edition of this holy scripture of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (the first to name Joseph Smith as translator on the title page)—a “third testament” (Bushman), the epic account of an ancient religious civilization in the Americas—in contemporary sheep.

"A thousand-year history of the rise and fall of a religious civilization in the Western Hemisphere" founded by Israelites who fled from Jerusalem, the Book of Mormon "has been controversial from the moment of its publication" in March 1830. From golden plates to which he claimed an angel led him, "Joseph Smith dictated the bulk of the Book of Mormon from early April to late June 1829…The Book of Mormon can be seen as an extension of the Bible, as a mammoth apocryphal work; the modern Church [of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints] calls it 'Another Testament of Jesus Christ… And yet for all the similarities and mutual confirmations, the Book of Mormon challenges the authority of the Bible… [It] also created a subversive competitor to the standard national history [of the United States]… [and] proposes a new purpose for America: becoming a realm of righteousness rather than an empire of liberty. Against increasing wealth and inequality, the Book of Mormon advocates the cause of the poor. Against the subjection of the Indians, it promises the continent to the native people. Against republican government, it proposes righteous rule by judges and kings under God's law. Against a closed-canon Bible and nonmiraculous religion, the Book of Mormon stands for ongoing revelation, miracles and revelation to all nations. Against skepticism, it promotes belief; against nationalism, a universal Israel… It is hard to tell what aspects of the Book of Mormon appealed to the early converts… They never explained why they believed; they simply found it convincing… In later years, Joseph's revelations redefined the nature of God and man so radically that Mormonism has been seen as a departure from traditional Christianity as serious as Christianity's from Judaism… But however extensive the innovations, the Saints never left basic Christianity behind; the Book of Mormon, their third testament, held them to the fundamentals. Joseph Smith called it the 'key stone of our religion" (Bushman, Rough Stone Rolling, Chapter 4, passim).

The Book of Mormon is one of three Standard Works (books of sacred scripture recognized by the Latter Day Saints in addition to the Bible); the others are Doctrine and Covenants and The Pearl of Great Price. Second edition, with new preface by Parley Pratt and John Goodson (replacing Smith's first edition preface) and pages 235-37 misnumbered as 335-37. The first edition, of which fewer than 500 are extant, was published in Palmyra, New York in 1830. This second edition marks the first time Smith is named as translator on the title page, as he would be in all subsequent editions; the first edition named him "author and proprietor" for copyright purposes. "Extremely rare… Considerably rarer than the first [edition]. It was in Kirtland, Ohio that the first 'State of Zion' was established, the first temple built, and the priesthood more thoroughly organized" (Rosenbach 15:202). Although Pratt and Goodon's preface suggests the second edition would number 5000 copies, according to Crawley, "the exact size of the edition is uncertain. In 1886, Ebenezer Robinson, a typesetter in the Kirtland print shop, recalled a bit tentatively that it was 3000. This smaller number is more consistent with the relative scarcity of the 1837 Book of Mormon today." Flake & Draper 596. Crawley 35. Sabin 83039. Howes S623. Old owner inscriptions, small homemade bookplate; erased shelf numbers and old ink number to page [v]; old pencil equations to rear endpapers.

Scattered light foxing. Light dampstaining to top corners of first several pages. Contemporary sheep worn, with three tiny holes to spine. A most desirable copy of an elusive and significant edition.