Adam Neilan Davis and Dr. Royal Skousen, International Studies
During the period 1879-1911, seven editions of the Book of Mormon were published by or for the LDS Church. Each contains a significant number of variants which aid the researcher in establishing a history of relationships between various texts, otherwise known as a stemma. My research established the stemma beginning with the 1879 Liverpool edition and concluding with the 1911 Chicago large-type edition.
As no one is able to type-set the Book of Mormon from memory, it is clear that every edition of the Book of Mormon must be based on a previous edition known as a copy text. When identical textual errors are noted in two separate editions, it is good evidence that the earlier edition was a copy text for the latter. These “errors”, or variant readings, are not necessarily the result of neglect during the process of typesetting or proofing. They may be caused by problems with the ink, deterioration of the plates, or damage to the plates. Of course, not all “errors” are significant. Standard punctuation and spelling change with time and location, and this factor must be taken into account.
My research was accomplished by examining over 40 separate printings of the Book of Mormon. I identified significant textual variants and instances of damage which allowed me to determine a stemma for the seven editions in question. The most important edition in this study was the earliest, the 1879 Liverpool edition. The Liverpool edition was prepared by Orson Pratt and introduced the current LDS system of versification. After the first printing in 1879, two copies, or stereotypes, were made from the plates. One stereotype remained in the British Isles and was in use from 1881 up through 1920 for twelve separate printings. The second stereotype was shipped to Salt Lake City where it was used for thirteen printings from 1879 until 1919. With each printing the stereotypes deteriorated, but the rate of deterioration was much quicker with the Salt Lake City stereotype. For example, even before its first use, a large section of page 465 had to be reset because of damage to the plates, probably caused in transit.
Following the sixth printing in 1888, the Salt Lake City stereotype was set aside. In 1891 a new printing was issued by George Q. Cannon & Sons which looked similar, yet noticeably different, from the previous six printings issued by Deseret News. Stocks has speculated that the new printing was “an exercise in hometown plate-making”‘ based on the “original 1879 type setting” . This conclusion is based, in part, o 2 n the observation that the 1891 text agrees with the 1879 Liverpool text rather than the variant readings in the Salt Lake City text. However, through closer examination, this project has demonstrated that the George Q. Cannon printing exhibits damage identical to the Liverpool stereotype. This suggests that the 1891 Salt Lake City issue was printed from a new stereotype taken from the Liverpool stereotype. In any case, the printing was very poor and in 1900 the Salt Lake City stereotype was returned to use by Deseret News. However, individual pages continued to be printed from the George Q. Cannon stereotype, though not always the same page, as a means of compensating for damage to the Salt Lake City stereotype.
With the exception of the last edition in this study, the 1911 Chicago large-type edition, every edition used a printing from one of the three above stereotypes as a copy text. Some editions also made use of other editions as secondary reference texts. For example, while the editors of the 1906 Salt Lake City large-type edition created a number of independent readings, they also referred to the original 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon to restore some lost text, noted below in italics.
“And it came to pass that they took him and bound him, and scourged his skin with faggots, yea, even unto death.”
Some of the variant readings from the 1906 Salt Lake City large-type edition were incorporated into the 1907 printing of the 1905 Chicago edition which was typeset from a later printing of the Salt Lake City 1879 stereotype. Because the 1907 Chicago printing was a reference text for the 1907 Salt Lake City pocket-size edition, some of the same variants also appear there.
The 1911 Chicago large-type edition was typeset from the altered version of the Chicago edition. Thus, the text shows the influences of the Salt Lake City stereotype, the 1905/1907 printings of the Chicago edition, and the variant readings introduced by the 1906 Salt Lake City large-type edition. James E. Talmage later used the 1911 edition when preparing the 1920 edition. This branch of the stemma extends to the current LDS edition of the Book of Mormon which was published in 1981.
This report has only briefly covered some of the relationships between editions of the Book of Mormon for the period 1879-191 1. The full story is extensive and detailed, where known. The implications are significant. The findings will give scholars access to important textual variations for the period in question. They will also allow future editors of the text to restore original readings.
To put the study in perspective, this research forms only a part of the larger Book of Mormon Critical Text Project. Detailed findings will be published with two other similar studies I have coauthored in the second volume of forthcoming The Critical Text of the Book of Mormon, Royal Skousen, editor, under the section “History of the Book of Mormon Text.”
References
- Stocks, Hugh Grant, The Book of Mormon in English, 1870-1920. A Publishing History and Analytical Bibliography, University of California, Los Angeles (1986) p. 223.
- Stocks, p. 222. 2
- Mosiah 18:13 3
- This research was greatly supported by the work of Royal Skousen who provided me with a coallation of the seven editions in question, as well as valuable guidance and criticism.