Joseph Smith / Book of Commandments for the Government of the Church Signed 1st

Description: A Book of Commandments, for the Government of the Church of Christ, Organized According to Law, on the 6th of April, 1830 [Leaf Book] Author: [Smith, Joseph] Title: A Book of Commandments, for the Government of the Church of Christ, Organized According to Law, on the 6th of April, 1830 [Leaf Book] Publication: Zion [Independence]: W.W. Phelps & Company, 1833 Edition: First Edition, 1/2 Description: Trigesimo-secundo (32mo) [11.5 cm] Single leaf pp. 33/34. Stab holes at inside edge. Housed in a full green leather chemise that has blind stamped borders with the title gilt stamped on the front board. Housed in a matching slipcase. One of two copies produced (neither with priority).With so few extant copies of this work - individual leaves from the Book of Commandments are exceedingly rare. This is the one of two, Book of Commandment leaf books that were produced. 'Fifth Book' in the hand of Oliver Cowdery at the foot of the page 33. Three months after the Church was organized, Joseph Smith and John Whitmer began to arrange and copy the revelations that Joseph Smith had received up to the point, and for a time manuscript copies of some of them circulated among a few of the Church members. With the advent of a Mormon press came the possibility of printing the revelations and making them more widely available. At a conference in Hiram, Ohio, November 1 and 2, 1831, six weeks after the decision to establish a press in Independence, the Church leaders agreed to print the revelations in book form under the title 'Book of Commandments', in an edition of 10,000. Oliver Cowdery was designated to carry the manuscript revelations to Independence. In the course of the conference Joseph Smith received a revelation (D&C 1) which would constitute the preface to the printed book, and the day after he received another (D&C 133), the 'Appendix,' which would be its concluding chapter. On November 8 some of the Elders met at Hiram and again discussed the revelations. In response to Sidney Rigdon's remarks about transcription errors, they directed Joseph Smith to correct any such errors "he may discover by the holy Spirit." Not all shared the decision to put the revelation in print. David Whitmer, the persistent anticreedalist, for example, objected to the grounds that they were "not law," that they were directed only to individuals, and the Church as a whole had no need of them.For two weeks following the conference, Joseph Smith reviewed and arranged the revelations, and during this time he received two others pertaining to the Book of Commandments. The first (D&C 69) directed John Whitmer, the official Church recorder and historian, to accompany Oliver Cowdery to Missouri, and the second (D&C 70) called Joseph Smith, Martin Harris, Oliver Cowdery, John Whitmer, Sidney Rigdon, and W.W. Phelps to be "stewards over the revelations and commandments." This group, subsequently known as the Literary Firm was to assume the responsibility for publishing the book. They were to be supported out of the proceeds from its sale, and any profit above that needed for their support was to be paid into the bishop's storehouse. Not surprisingly, David Whitmer was not included in the Firm.Cowdery and Whitmer left Kirtland on November 20, 1831, and arrived in Independence and concluded to reduce the edition of the Book of Commandments to 3,000. Here also they appointed W.W. Phelps, Oliver Cowdery, and John Whitmer "to review the Book of Commandments & select for printing such as shall be deemed by them proper, as dictated by the Spirit & make all necessary verbal corrections."Originally Joseph Smith's revelations were recorded on individual pieces of paper such as those now in Brigham Young University's Lee Library Special Collections. Ultimately Phelps, Cowdery, and Whitmer produced a printer's manuscript from which the Book of Commandments was set in type. The Book of Commandments was in press by December 1832, and five months later the 'Evening and Morning Star' published the 'Appendix' with the comment that the book would be completed during the year. Early in June, Phelps was far enough along in the printing to write the Church leaders in Kirtland about binding the book. In response Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, and F.G. Williams suggested selling it without a binding, since to search for a suitable binder would keep it too long out of circulation.By July 20, 1833, Phelps had printed five 32-page signatures. That afternoon a large group of Missourians swarmed into the Evening and Morning Star office, threw the press and type out of an upper story window, and pulled down the building. Close by, Mary Elizabeth Rollins and her younger sister Caroline watched the destruction: "When the mob was tearing down the printing office, a two story building, driving Brother Phelps' family out of the lower part of the house, they (the mob) brought out some large sheets of paper, saying, 'Here are the Mormon commandments.' My sister, 12 years old (I was then 14) and myself were in a corner of a fence watching them. When the spoke about them being the commandments, I was determined to have some of them. So while their backs were turned, prying out the gable end of the house, we ran and gathered up all we could carry in our arms. As we turned away, two of the mob got down off the house and called for us to stop, but we ran as fast as we could, through a gap in the fence into a large corn field, and the two men after us. We ran a long way in the field, laid the papers on the ground, then laid down on top of them. The corn was very high and thick. They hunted all around us, but did not see us. After we were satisfied they had given up the search, we tried to find our way out of the field. The corn was so tall we thought we were lost. On looking up we saw some trees that had been girdled to kill them. We followed them and came to an old log stable, which looked like it had not been used in years. Sister Phelps and family were there, carrying in brush and piling it up on one side of the stable to make their beds on. She asked us what we had. We told her and also how we came by them. She took them and placed them between her beds. Subsequently Oliver Cowdery bound them in small books and gave me one."Twenty-nine copies of the Book of Commandments are thought to survive, most of them in institutions. The discovery or offering of any example, however worn or incomplete, is a noted event, and the text includes certain revelations pronounced by Smith as early as 1828, before the Book of Mormon was dictated. This is the rarest and most sought after of all LDS printed works. Crawley 8. Flake/Draper 2854. Mormon Fifty 3. Howes S622. Auerbach 655. Sabin 50729. Eberstadt 115: 745. Scallawagiana 5. Woodward 17. Graff 707. Seller ID: 8516 Tschanz Rare Books We actively buy and sell books, photographs, ephemera, maps and objects in our specialities: Utah & the Mormons, Interior West, Western National Parks, Western Indians, Railroads and Western Americana generally. Terms All orders ship within two business days. Standard mail is USPS Media Mail. Expedited and international shipping are also available. We offer combined shipping on multiple orders. All items are guaranteed to be as described or they may be returned within 30 days of receipt for a full refund.This listing was created by Bibliopolis.

Price: 126500 USD

Location: Salt Lake City, Utah

End Time: 2025-02-12T01:00:22.000Z

Shipping Cost: 8 USD