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Doctrine and Covenants, 1835

Title Page Page i Preface Page iii Lecture 1 Page 5 Lecture 2 Page 12 Lecture 3 Page 35 Lecture 4 Page 44 Lecture 5 Page 52 Lecture 6 Page 58 Lecture 7 Page 63 Section 1 • Revelation, 1 November 1831–B [D&C 1] Page 75 Section 2 • Articles and Covenants, circa April 1830 [D&C 20] Page 77 Section 3 • Instruction on Priesthood, circa April 1835 [D&C 107] Page 82 Section 4 • Revelation, 22–23 September 1832 [D&C 84] Page 89 Section 5 • Revised Minutes, 17 February 1834 [D&C 102] Page 95 Section 6 • Revelation, 6 December 1832 [D&C 86] Page 99 Section 7 • Revelation, 27–28 December 1832 and 3 January 1833 [D&C 88] Page 100 Section 8 • Revelation, April 1829–A [D&C 6] Page 109 Section 9 • Revelation, July 1830–A [D&C 24] Page 111 Section 10 • Revelation, September 1830–A [D&C 29] Page 112 Section 11 • Revelation, 7 December 1830 [D&C 35] Page 116 Section 12 • Revelation, 2 January 1831 [D&C 38] Page 118 Section 13 • Revelation, 9 and 23 February 1831 [D&C 42] Page 120 Section 14 • Revelation, February 1831–A [D&C 43] Page 125 Section 15 • Revelation, circa 7 March 1831 [D&C 45] Page 128 Section 16 • Revelation, circa 8 March 1831–A [D&C 46] Page 132 Section 17 • Revelation, 9 May 1831 [D&C 50] Page 134 Section 18 • Revelation, 1 August 1831 [D&C 58] Page 136 Section 19 • Revelation, 7 August 1831 [D&C 59] Page 140 Section 20 • Revelation, 30 August 1831 [D&C 63] Page 141 Section 21 • Revelation, 11 September 1831 [D&C 64] Page 145 Section 22 • Revelation, 1 November 1831–A [D&C 68] Page 147 Section 23 • Revelation, 20 May 1831 [D&C 51] Page 150 Section 24 • Revelation, 30 October 1831 [D&C 65] Page 151 Section 25 • Revelation, circa 2 November 1831 [D&C 67] Page 151 Section 26 • Revelation, 12 November 1831 [D&C 70] Page 152 Section 27 • Revelation, 20 July 1831 [D&C 57] Page 154 Section 28 • Revelation, 11 November 1831–A [D&C 69] Page 155 Section 29 • Revelation, 10 January 1832 [D&C 73] Page 156 Section 30 • Revelation, July 1828 [D&C 3] Page 156 Section 31 • Revelation, February 1829 [D&C 4] Page 158 Section 32 • Revelation, March 1829 [D&C 5] Page 158 Section 33 • Account of John, April 1829–C [D&C 7] Page 160 Section 34 • Revelation, April 1829–B [D&C 8] Page 161 Section 35 • Revelation, April 1829–D [D&C 9] Page 162 Section 36 • Revelation, Spring 1829 [D&C 10] Page 163 Section 37 • Revelation, May 1829–A [D&C 11] Page 167 Section 38 • Revelation, May 1829–B [D&C 12] Page 169 Section 39 • Revelation, June 1829–A [D&C 14] Page 169 Section 40 • Revelation, June 1829–C [D&C 15] Page 170 Section 41 • Revelation, June 1829–D [D&C 16] Page 170 Section 42 • Revelation, June 1829–E [D&C 17] Page 171 Section 43 • Revelation, June 1829–B [D&C 18] Page 172 Section 44 • Revelation, circa Summer 1829 [D&C 19] Page 174 Section 45 • Revelation, April 1830–A, B, C, D, E [D&C 23] Page 176 Section 46 • Revelation, 6 April 1830 [D&C 21] Page 177 Section 47 • Revelation, 16 April 1830 [D&C 22] Page 178 Section 48 • Revelation, July 1830–C [D&C 25] Page 178 Section 49 • Revelation, July 1830–B [D&C 26] Page 179 Section 50 • Revelation, circa August 1830 [D&C 27] Page 179 Section 51 • Revelation, September 1830–B [D&C 28] Page 181 Section 52 • Revelation, September 1830–C, D, E [D&C 30] Page 182 Section 53 • Revelation, September 1830–F [D&C 31] Page 183 Section 54 • Revelation, October 1830–A [D&C 32] Page 184 Section 55 • Revelation, October 1830–B [D&C 33] Page 184 Section 56 • Revelation, 4 November 1830 [D&C 34] Page 185 Section 57 • Revelation, 9 December 1830 [D&C 36] Page 186 Section 58 • Revelation, 30 December 1830 [D&C 37] Page 186 Section 59 • Revelation, 5 January 1831 [D&C 39] Page 187 Section 60 • Revelation, 6 January 1831 [D&C 40] Page 188 Section 61 • Revelation, 4 February 1831 [D&C 41] Page 188 Section 62 • Revelation, February 1831–B [D&C 44] Page 189 Section 63 • Revelation, circa 8 March 1831–B [D&C 47] Page 190 Section 64 • Revelation, 10 March 1831 [D&C 48] Page 190 Section 65 • Revelation, 7 May 1831 [D&C 49] Page 191 Section 66[a] • Revelation, 6 June 1831 [D&C 52] Page 192 Section 66[b] • Revelation, 8 June 1831 [D&C 53] Page 195 Section 67 • Revelation, 10 June 1831 [D&C 54] Page 195 Section 68 • Revelation, 14 June 1831 [D&C 55] Page 196 Section 69 • Revelation, 15 June 1831 [D&C 56] Page 197 Section 70 • Revelation, 8 August 1831 [D&C 60] Page 198 Section 71 • Revelation, 12 August 1831 [D&C 61] Page 199 Section 72 • Revelation, 13 August 1831 [D&C 62] Page 202 Section 73 • Explanation of Scripture, 1830 [D&C 74] Page 202 Section 74 • Revelation, 29 October 1831 [D&C 66] Page 203 Section 75 • Revelation, 1 March 1832 [D&C 78] Page 204 Section 76 • Revelation, 12 March 1832 [D&C 79] Page 205 Section 77 • Revelation, 7 March 1832 [D&C 80] Page 206 Section 78 • Revelation, 29 August 1832 [D&C 99] Page 206 Section 79 • Revelation, 15 March 1832 [D&C 81] Page 207 Section 80 • Revelation, 27 February 1833 [D&C 89] Page 207 Section 81 • Revelation, 2 August 1833–A [D&C 97] Page 208 Section 82 • Revelation, 6 May 1833 [D&C 93] Page 210 Section 83 • Revelation, 2 August 1833–B [D&C 94] Page 213 Section 84 • Revelation, 8 March 1833 [D&C 90] Page 214 Section 85 • Revelation, 6 August 1833 [D&C 98] Page 216 Section 86 • Revelation, 26 April 1832 [D&C 82] Page 219 Section 87 • Revelation, 25 January 1832–A, B [D&C 75] Page 221 Section 88 • Revelation, 30 April 1832 [D&C 83] Page 222 Section 89 • Revelation, 4 December 1831–A, B, C [D&C 72] Page 223 Section 90 • Revelation, 1 December 1831 [D&C 71] Page 225 Section 91 • Vision, 16 February 1832 [D&C 76] Page 225 Section 92 • Revelation, 9 March 1833 [D&C 91] Page 231 Section 93 • Revelation, 15 March 1833 [D&C 92] Page 231 Section 94 • Revelation, 12 October 1833 [D&C 100] Page 232 Section 95 • Revelation, 1 June 1833 [D&C 95] Page 233 Section 96 • Revelation, 4 June 1833 [D&C 96] Page 234 Section 97 • Revelation, 16–17 December 1833 [D&C 101] Page 235 Section 98 • Revelation, 23 April 1834 [D&C 104] Page 240 Section 99 • Revelation, 25 November 1834 [D&C 106] Page 245 Section 100 • Revelation, 3 November 1831 [D&C 133] Page 247 Section 101 • Statement on Marriage, circa August 1835 Page 251 Section 102 • Declaration on Government and Law, circa August 1835 [D&C 134] Page 252 General Assembly, 17 August 1835 Page 255 Index Page i Contents Page v Notes to the Reader Page xxv

Source Note

Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God, and Compiled by Joseph Smith Junior. Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, Frederick G. Williams, -[Presiding Elders of Said Church.]- Proprietors.; Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams & Co., 1835; i–iv, 5–257, 25 pages of back matter paginated i–xxv; includes typeset signature marks and copyright notice. The copy presented herein is held at CHL; includes marginalia and archival markings.
This book was printed in octavo format on eighteen sheets, which were folded to make eighteen gatherings of eight leaves (sixteen pages) each. The text block consists of 288 pages measuring 6 × 4 inches (15 × 10 cm). The sheets were likely printed using a work-and-turn technique, yielding two copies of the same gathering for each sheet.
Different bindings exist among the extant copies from this printing of the Doctrine and Covenants because copies were bound at different times. The copy of the book featured herein, which belonged to early church member and leader , measures 6¼ × 4⅜ × ⅞ inches (16 × 11 × 2 cm). The cover is made from brown leather, with gilt and blind tooling on the spine and around the edges of the front and back covers. “Doctrine & | Covenants” is stamped on the spine in gilt. The front and back pastedowns, the front flyleaf, and the back flyleaf are single-sided marbled leaves featuring a Spanish pattern with blue shell body and shell veins of red and yellow. The verso of the front flyleaf bears a notation in graphite in unidentified handwriting, which was later stricken: “Presented, By. The hand of his mother to her Son Joshua [Kimball Whitney] on Tuesday Nov 26th 1872 S[alt]. L[ake]. City”. The recto of the subsequent unprinted page bears several notations, all in unidentified handwriting: “RN- 232438”, “Vault | Book | M223.1 | D637 | 1835 | no.4”, “E[lizabeth]. A[nn]. Whitneys | Book”, “G. S. L. City | May 23d. 1858.”, and “Sister Elia ◊◊◊◊ | see me at ◊◊◊◊◊◊◊”. The verso of that page is blank, as is the following leaf. The title page bears the signature of “N[ewel] K Whitney”. The final gathering of the book ends with two blank leaves. Two additional blank leaves were included, followed by a single flyleaf and the pastedown. The recto of the back flyleaf bears a light graphite notation in unidentified handwriting: “Mrs Whitney”.
After the death of in 1850, his wife took possession of the book and then gave it to her son Joshua Kimball Whitney in 1872. The book remained in the Whitney family until it was acquired by the Historical Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1987.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    In addition to the 282 pages identified in the preceding paragraph, the text block includes six unnumbered pages not accounted for in the pagination: a blank page after page 257 and five blank pages at the end of the volume, after page xxv.

  2. [2]

    An uncut sheet of the first Kirtland issue (Dec. 1833) of The Evening and the Morning Star, which was printed on the same press as the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants, is super royal size, or approximately 27½ × 20 inches (70 × 51 cm). Had the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants, which was printed in octavo format, been printed on super royal–size paper with a sheetwise technique (one gathering per sheet), each sheet would have yielded eight leaves measuring approximately 10 × 6⅞ inches (25 × 17 cm) each, a page size significantly larger than was needed for the Doctrine and Covenants, which measures approximately 6 × 4 inches (15 × 10 cm). If a work-and-turn technique had been used, each sheet would have yielded sixteen leaves measuring approximately 6⅞ × 5 inches (17 × 13 cm) each, leaving about a quarter inch to be trimmed from the top and bottom of each leaf and about a half an inch to be trimmed from the outside edge.

  3. [3]

    Crawley, Descriptive Bibliography, 1:57.

    Crawley, Peter. A Descriptive Bibliography of the Mormon Church. 3 vols. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1997–2012.

Historical Introduction

Even before JS learned in August 1833 that the Latter-day Saint in , Missouri, had been destroyed a few weeks earlier, plans were under way in , Ohio, to obtain an additional press to print JS’s newly completed Bible revision manuscript and other works. After word of the destruction of the printing office reached , members of the United Firm—an organization set up to oversee various businesses within the church—resolved to take temporary responsibility for printing materials for the church until the press could resume operation. In accordance with that decision, members of the United Firm established a press operated by F. G. Williams & Co., whose responsibilities included publishing The Evening and the Morning Star until it could be “transfered to its former Location” (Missouri) and launching a second newspaper to be titled Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. , a member of the United Firm, also believed that the Book of Commandments would “probably be reprinted” in Ohio.
In fall 1833, purchased a printing press from White, Hagar & Co. of for 190 dollars and type from Nathan Lyman of for 360 dollars and had the new equipment shipped to . That December, JS and other leaders dedicated the press, which was initially housed on the second story of a brick building the church had recently acquired from . The press soon published two broadsheets and a broadside containing the texts of four revelations, foreshadowing its important role in making the revelations widely available.
Though church leaders considered the publication of the revelations to be a priority, other matters delayed the work. In the late winter and early spring of 1834, most church leaders were occupied preparing for the expedition to (later known as Zion’s Camp). Traveling together in mid-April, not long before the expedition departed, JS, , , and early church member paused to give one another blessings for their individual responsibilities. JS was blessed to lead the upcoming expedition, while Rigdon and Cowdery were blessed with divine assistance “in arranging the church covenants which are to be soon published.” A revelation dictated by JS shortly thereafter reemphasized the plan to print the newly revealed word of God: “for this purpose have I commanded you to organize yourselves, even to print my word, the fullness of my Scriptures, the revelations which I have given unto you, and which I shall hereafter, from time to time, give unto you.” Though Oliver Cowdery and Sidney Rigdon remained in while JS and others marched to Missouri, they had to manage church operations in addition to printing The Evening and the Morning Star, leaving little time to advance work on the revelations.
When JS returned from to in August 1834, focus again turned to publishing the revelations. In September the high council appointed a committee consisting of JS, , , and to publish a work “arrange[d from] the items of the doctrine of Jesus Christ.” This committee was assigned to draw “from the bible, book of mormon, and the revelations which have been given to the church up to this date.” While a single volume containing excerpts from the Bible, Book of Mormon, and revelation texts was the original intention, the concept was later modified. As the bipartite title “Doctrine and Covenants” suggests, the new book was made up of two parts. The first part, on “the doctrine of the church,” comprised a series of seven doctrinal lectures on the subject of faith, first prepared as a course of instruction for the School of the Elders held in the second Kirtland in the winter of 1834–1835. Lecture one was contemporaneously published as a broadside and lectures five and six were published in the May 1835 issue of the Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate, but there is no known manuscript copy of any of the lectures. Although no JS-era published version states who authored the lectures, they were traditionally attributed to JS. Modern scholars, however, largely agree that Rigdon authored most or all of the lectures.
The second part of the Doctrine and Covenants contained the “covenants and commandments of the Lord,” or revelations. Inasmuch as the revelations made up the majority of the volume and the volume’s title indicated that the texts therein were “carefully selected from the revelations of God,” it is curious that the revelations were placed in the second part of the book. The sequence of the book’s two parts may have resulted from the order in which materials were ready to be typeset. Regardless, the revelations were considered to be of paramount importance, and the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants was the most important collection of revelations published to that point. It presented more revelations than the incomplete Book of Commandments and presented some previously published revelations in expanded form.
The major work of printing the revelations in actually began in January 1835 with the publication of the newspaper Evening and Morning Star, a reprint of The Evening and the Morning Star. The earlier newspaper had published twenty-six full or partial revelation texts in its first thirteen issues. Of those, thirteen appeared in the reprinted Star before they were available to the public in the Doctrine and Covenants. Though the prospectus for the reprinted Star announced the new paper would merely correct “errors” in the revelations that had resulted from “transcribing manuscript,” in fact the editors of the reprint made significant changes to the revelation texts—changes that were generally maintained when those texts were republished in the Doctrine and Covenants.
and arrived in in May 1835. Their arrival significantly alleviated the heavy workload at the Kirtland , which was printing the Messenger and Advocate and other miscellaneous publications in addition to Evening and Morning Star. Whitmer was appointed editor of the Messenger and Advocate and Phelps, who had been the printer for the Book of Commandments, lent his hand to work on the Doctrine and Covenants. By this time, some half-dozen individuals, in addition to Phelps and Whitmer, worked in the printing office: foreman James M. Carrel was assisted by , , , and . Robinson’s reminiscences indicate that managed the business of the printing establishment. Apart from Cowdery, Phelps, and Whitmer, these individuals were printing hands who likely had little to do with the composition, structure, or intellectual work of the Doctrine and Covenants. In addition to serving on the publication committee for the volume, JS solicited financial help for printing, helped secure the copyright, and signed the preface. He is listed on the title page, but his role in the day-to-day work of preparing the revelations for publication is not fully known. Some corrections in his hand that are reflected in the Doctrine and Covenants are found on revelations in Revelation Books 1 and 2, and three notations in Revelation Book 2 indicate that he did at least some of the work of selecting items for publication. JS apparently relied on others to do the actual typesetting and printing and possibly the bulk of the editing, arranging, and other intellectual work needed to prepare the revelations for print.
The committee who selected items for publication drew on both manuscript and printed sources. When an item had already been printed, such as the sixty-four revelations or other items printed in full in the Book of Commandments, corrections or changes were sometimes made on a copy of the printed version. A copy of the Book of Commandments once owned by contains editing marks made in preparation for the publication of the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants. When a revelation had not been printed before, the editors turned to manuscript sources, the most authoritative and commonly used of which were Revelation Books 1 and 2. As with the 1832–1833 printing effort in , the printers may have recopied some texts in order to provide clean copies for typesetting.
As had been the case with editorial work on the Book of Commandments, the editors of the Doctrine and Covenants made numerous copyediting changes to many of the revelations as well as a smaller number of substantive changes. In contrast with the earlier work, however, the editors of the Doctrine and Covenants also made a focused effort to update the revelations to reflect changes in church government, structure, and doctrine that had occurred since the revelations were first dictated. For example, the earliest extant version of a 9 February 1831 revelation describes certain duties of elders, priests, teachers, and bishops. Naturally, early versions of the revelation made no mention of the office of high priest, which did not exist until June 1831, or of the high council, a body that was not organized until February 1834. For publication in 1835, the revelation was revised to reflect the role of high priests and the high council.
Extant sources permit the reconstruction of a rough chronology of the production of the volume. In mid-January 1835, JS, , , and registered the volume for copyright in the District Court in . The dated preface to the Doctrine and Covenants suggests that typesetting began shortly thereafter. By late May, the first six gatherings (one-third of the volume’s total gatherings) were printed, taking the work through page 96, which included the entire first part of the book and the first four sections of the second part. The editors of the Messenger and Advocate optimistically promised readers of the May 1835 issue that the Doctrine and Covenants would be completed soon. However, a 15 June letter from JS asking for donations or loans to help underwrite the printing of the revelations suggests that financial difficulty may have delayed the completion of the book. It appears that early, unfinished portions of the book circulated before the book was bound and made widely available. In an epistle to the Twelve Apostles dated 4 August 1835, JS referred to a revelation by its section and verse numbers in the new publication, indicating that JS and evidently the Twelve had access to partial advance copies of the Doctrine and Covenants.
On 17 August 1835, a general assembly of the church met “for the purpose of Examining a book of commandments and covenants” that had been “compiled and written by” the publication committee. “This Committee having finished said Book according to the instructions given them,” the minutes read, “it was deemed necessary to call the general assembly of the Church to see whether the book be approved or not by the authoroties of the church, that it may, if approved, become a law unto the church, and a rule of faith and practice unto the same.” Though the assembly was convened “by the presidency of the Church,” JS and , a member of the presidency, were in at the time of the assembly. The responsibility of presenting the book to the conference therefore fell to , a member of both the presidency and the four-man publication committee. , the other presidency member and committee member present, stood and “explained the manner by which they intended to obtain the voice of the assembly for or against said book.” Voting on the book proceeded by quorums and groups, with the leader of each group bearing witness of the truth of the volume before his group voted to accept it. After the voting by quorums, the entire church membership present, both male and female, voted to accept the book as “the doctrine and covenants of their faith.” After the general assembly accepted the new publication, read an article on marriage that the assembly approved and added to the volume. The congregation then voted to accept and add to the volume an article on government introduced by Oliver Cowdery. Besides the revelations and these additions, the finished volume also contained a condensed and somewhat modified set of the minutes of this 17 August 1835 meeting, an “Index” (actually a table of contents in modern terms), a list of “Contents” (actually an index), and a single page titled “Notes to the Reader” that contained errata.
In contrast with the chapters in the Book of Commandments, many of the sections in the Doctrine and Covenants were presented out of chronological order. Analysis of the Doctrine and Covenants and its source texts yields some insights about how texts were selected and why the sections may have been arranged in the order they were. Sections 1 through 7, which date from April 1830 to February 1834 but which are not arranged in chronological order, appear to have been placed first in the volume because of their importance: section 1, which was also the first chapter in the Book of Commandments, was understood to be a divinely given “preface” to the compilation; section 2 contains the founding articles and covenants of the church; sections 3, 4, and 6 are identified in large headings as being “ON PRIESTHOOD” and constitute something of a handbook on priesthood and church government; section 5 presents the minutes from the organizational meeting of the first high council of the church; and section 7, the “olive leaf” revelation, presents instructions on preparing for a solemn assembly in the in . Of these seven texts, the first two were marked in ’s copy of the Book of Commandments with the word “Covenants” and the fourth through sixth were marked “To go into the covenants” in Revelation Book 2. For some of the texts, there are additional editing marks in Revelation Book 2 that likely relate to publication in the Doctrine and Covenants.
Sections 8 through 21 of the volume, which date from April 1829 to September 1831, are arranged in chronological order. In his copy of the Book of Commandments, marked these texts, except for the text of section 8, with the word “Covenants,” indicating that he may have made a special pass through the Book of Commandments to identify texts to be included early in the Doctrine and Covenants. For a handful of these texts, there are also editing marks in Revelation Book 1 that likely relate to publication in the Doctrine and Covenants. Most of these texts had also been previously published in The Evening and the Morning Star, suggesting that texts that may have been perceived as especially important were published in that newspaper.
The texts in sections 22 through 29, dating from May 1831 to January 1832, are not arranged in chronological order, nor were they published in the Book of Commandments. marked seven of these eight texts sequentially in Revelation Book 1 with “No 1” through “No 8,” omitting “No 2”; only section 23 is not so marked, but it evidently should have been marked as “No 2.” Again, these markings in a source text show that the arrangement of sections was deliberate. For all eight of these texts, there are editing marks in Revelation Book 1, beyond the aforementioned numbering, that likely relate to publication in the Doctrine and Covenants.
Sections 30 through 72 are arranged chronologically, though they do not pick up where any former grouping left off. These sections, which date from July 1828 to August 1831, present in order the remaining texts published in the Book of Commandments and not already included in the earlier sections of the Doctrine and Covenants. For this group of texts, only one revelation, section 42, has editing marks in Revelation Book 1 or Revelation Book 2 that likely relate to publication in the Doctrine and Covenants. However, many of the sections in this group reflect editing marks made in ’s copy of the Book of Commandments, and the wording of most of the sections closely mirrors the wording in the Book of Commandments. It is probable, therefore, that the Cowdery volume was the source text for nearly all of the sections in this grouping. The heading “ON PRIESTHOOD AND CALLING,” which immediately precedes section 30, may indicate that subsequent sections were seen as having a common theme, or the heading may have been intended to apply to section 30 only. Regardless of what was meant by the heading, the revelations in sections 30 to 72 do seem to cohere roughly as a unit. Most of these revelations are shorter texts addressed to specific individuals, usually directing a person to undertake a particular assignment, or calling, in the church or giving specific counsel related to an assignment already given. The revelations preceding section 30, in contrast, are typically lengthier texts on church government or doctrine addressed to audiences of church members or leaders generally.
A final group of texts, sections 73 through 100, have creation dates ranging from December 1830 to November 1834. At times sections within this group are presented in chronological order (sections 90 through 94, for example); usually, however, they are out of chronological order. The principle by which the sections in this group were arranged is not evident, except that section 100 is labeled in large type as an “APPENDIX” to the work. Most of these texts were marked up in Revelation Book 1, Revelation Book 2, or both for publication in the Doctrine and Covenants.
, who saw the first efforts to print the revelations hindered in , eagerly anticipated the publication of the Doctrine and Covenants. In the same issue of the Messenger and Advocate that printed the minutes of the 17 August 1835 assembly meeting, he announced that the Doctrine and Covenants was “nearly ready for sale” and “may be expected in the course of a month, as one thousand copies have already been delivered to the binder.” By September 1835, some copies of the book had been bound in and were available for sale. It appears that advance payments for the book were taken as early as 26 June 1835. and were appointed by the presidency of the church as official agents to sell copies of the volume, which were priced at one dollar. From the first, the Doctrine and Covenants was more accessible to church members than the scarce and incomplete Book of Commandments had been, but it appears the volume was not as widely disseminated as church leaders had hoped. No definite information about the total size of the 1835 printing is extant, but in the first two months after the volume was available, just over eighty copies were sold by F. G. Williams & Co. The F. G. Williams & Co. account book ends in early November 1835, and no other records have been located that provide a clearer picture of total sales. In April 1836, at least five hundred unbound copies remained unsold. Any volumes not sold by 1838 and stored in were likely destroyed when the Kirtland burned in the early part of 1838.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Oliver Cowdery with JS postscript, Kirtland Mills, OH, to [William W. Phelps] et al., [Independence, MO], 10 Aug. 1833, CHL; Revelation, 2 Aug. 1833–B, in Doctrine and Covenants 83:3, 1835 ed. [D&C 94:10]; JS et al., Kirtland, OH, to Edward Partridge et al., Independence, MO, 25 June 1833, JS Collection, CHL.

    Cowdery, Oliver. Letter with Joseph Smith postscript, Kirtland Mills, OH, to [William W. Phelps, John Whitmer, Edward Partridge, Isaac Morley, John Corrill, and Sidney Gilbert], [Independence, MO], 10 Aug. 1833. CHL. MS 3594.

    Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).

    Smith, Joseph. Collection, 1827–1846. CHL. MS 155.

  2. [2]

    Minute Book 1, 11 Sept. 1833. For more information on the United Firm, see Parkin, “Joseph Smith and the United Firm.”

    Minute Book 1 / “Conference A,” 1832–1837. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.

    Parkin, Max H. “Joseph Smith and the United Firm: The Growth and Decline of the Church’s First Master Plan of Business and Finance, Ohio and Missouri, 1832–1834.” BYU Studies 46, no. 3 (2007): 5–66.

  3. [3]

    Minute Book 1, 11 Sept. 1833. Despite early expectations, Mormon printing operations at Independence never resumed, and the Star finished its print run in Ohio. Publication of the Messenger and Advocate was postponed until October 1834, when the Star’s second volume was complete.

    Minute Book 1 / “Conference A,” 1832–1837. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.

  4. [4]

    Frederick G. Williams, Kirtland, OH, to John Murdock, 10 Oct. 1833, in JS Letterbook 1, p. 62.

    JS Letterbook 1 / Smith, Joseph. “Letter Book A,” 1832–1835. Joseph Smith Collection. CHL. MS 155, box 2, fd. 1.

  5. [5]

    F. G. Williams and Company, Account Book, 1; JS, Kirtland, OH, to Edward Partridge et al., Clay Co., MO, 30 Mar. 1834, in Cowdery, Letterbook, 30–36. Nathan Lyman learned the practice of typefoundry from Elihu White of White, Hagar & Co., suggesting that either Lyman or White recommended the other to Cowdery. By the end of October 1833, Cowdery had arrived in Kirtland, but the press and type had not. The press and type were ready for service at least by 6 December 1833 but may have been ready as early as 12 November, when Cowdery was “making arrangements for printing.” (De Vinne, Practice of Typography, 104; Oliver Cowdery, Kirtland Mills, OH, to Ambrose Palmer, New Portage, OH, 30 Oct. 1833, in Cowdery, Letterbook, 4–5; JS Journal, 4–6 Dec. 1833; Oliver Cowdery, Kirtland Mills, OH, to Samuel Bent, [Michigan Territory], 12 Nov. 1833, in Cowdery, Letterbook, 9.)

    F. G. Williams & Co. Account Book, 1833–1835. CHL. In Patience Cowdery, Diary, 1849–1851. CHL. MS 3493.

    Cowdery, Oliver. Letterbook, 1833–1838. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.

    De Vinne, Theodore Low. The Practice of Typography: A Treatise on the Processes of Type-Making, the Point System, the Names, Sizes, Styles, and Prices of Plain Printing Types. New York: Century, 1900.

  6. [6]

    JS, Journal, 18 Dec. 1833; see also Parkin, “Joseph Smith and the United Firm,” 32. This brick building was located in the “flats,” or lowlands, on the north end of Kirtland. The printing establishment moved south to a second location, the second story of the newly completed schoolhouse immediately west of the House of the Lord, before work on the Doctrine and Covenants commenced—likely in late 1834. (Oliver Cowdery, Kirtland, OH, to William W. Phelps and John Whitmer, Clay Co., MO, 21 Jan. 1834, in Cowdery, Letterbook, 22; Frederick G. Williams, Kirtland, OH, to “Dear brethren,” 10 Oct. 1833, in JS Letterbook 1, pp. 56–60; Revelation, 23 Apr. 1834, in Revelation Book 1, p. 194 [D&C 104:28]; Minute Book 1, 11 Aug. 1834; Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1844–1845, bk. 13, [10]–[11]; Notice, LDS Messenger and Advocate, Oct. 1834, 1:11.)

    Parkin, Max H. “Joseph Smith and the United Firm: The Growth and Decline of the Church’s First Master Plan of Business and Finance, Ohio and Missouri, 1832–1834.” BYU Studies 46, no. 3 (2007): 5–66.

    Cowdery, Oliver. Letterbook, 1833–1838. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.

    JS Letterbook 1 / Smith, Joseph. “Letter Book A,” 1832–1835. Joseph Smith Collection. CHL. MS 155, box 2, fd. 1.

    Revelation Book 1 / “A Book of Commandments and Revelations of the Lord Given to Joseph the Seer and Others by the Inspiration of God and Gift and Power of the Holy Ghost Which Beareth Re[c]ord of the Father and Son and Holy Ghost Which Is One God Infinite and Eternal World without End Amen,” 1831–1835. CHL. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Robert J. Woodford, and Steven C. Harper, eds., Manuscript Revelation Books, facsimile edition, first volume of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2009).

    Minute Book 1 / “Conference A,” 1832–1837. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.

    Smith, Lucy Mack. History, 1844–1845. 18 books. CHL. MS 2049. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.

    Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.

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    Verily, I say unto you, concerning your brethren who have been afflicted, [Kirtland, OH: ca. Jan. 1834], copy at CHL [D&C 101]; Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you, who have assembled yourselves together, [Kirtland, OH: ca. Jan. 1834], copy at BYU [D&C 88–89]; Behold, blessed saith the Lord, are they who have come up unto this land, [Kirtland, OH: ca. Jan. 1834], copy at CHL [D&C 59].

    Verily, I say unto you, concerning your brethren who have been afflicted. [Kirtland, OH: ca. Jan. 1834]. Copy at CHL.

    Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you, who have assembled yourselves together [D&C 88–89]. [Kirtland, OH: ca. Jan. 1834]. Copy at BYU.

    Behold, blessed saith the Lord, are they who have come up unto this land [D&C 59]. [Kirtland, OH: ca. Jan. 1834]. Copy at CHL.

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    JS, Journal, 18–19 Apr. 1834.

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    Revelation, 23 Apr. 1834, in Revelation Book 2, p. 105 [D&C 104:58].

    Revelation Book 2 / “Book of Revelations,” 1832–1834. Revelations Collection, 1831–ca. 1844, 1847, 1861, ca. 1876. CHL. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Robert J. Woodford, and Steven C. Harper, eds., Manuscript Revelation Books, facsimile edition, first volume of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2009).

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    Minute Book 1, 24 Sept. 1834.

    Minute Book 1 / “Conference A,” 1832–1837. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.

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    Doctrine and Covenants, 1835 ed., [5].

    Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).

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    Editorial, LDS Messenger and Advocate, May 1835, 1:122; see also JS History, vol. B-1, 557–558, 562– 563; and Dahl, “Authorship and History of the Lectures on Faith,” 12–13.

    Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.

    JS History / Smith, Joseph, et al. History, 1838–1856. Vols. A-1–F-1 (original), A-2–E-2 (fair copy). Historian’s Office, History of the Church, 1839–ca. 1882. CHL. CR 100 102, boxes 1–7. The history for the period after 5 Aug. 1838 was composed after the death of Joseph Smith.

    Dahl, Larry E. “Authorship and History of the Lectures on Faith.” In The Lectures on Faith in Historical Perspective, edited by Larry E. Dahl and Charles D. Tate Jr., 1–21. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1990.

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    Theology. Lecture First, [Kirtland, OH: ca. Feb. 1835], copy at CHL; “Lecture Fifth” and “Lecture Sixth,” LDS Messenger and Advocate, May 1835, 1:122–126. Both versions of the first lecture appear to use the same typesetting, as indicated by identical placement of a few pieces of broken type and by the fact that the width of each of the three columns of text on the broadsheet matches the width of the text in the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants. Corrections and additions to the Doctrine and Covenants version indicate that the broadsheet version was set in type first. Lectures five and six were retypeset for publication in the Messenger and Advocate after they had already been typeset for the Doctrine and Covenants.

    Theology. Lecture First. [Kirtland, OH: ca. Feb. 1835]. Copy at CHL.

    Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.

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    See, for example, Reynolds, “The Case for Sidney Rigdon as Author of the Lectures on Faith.”; Reynolds, “Authorship Debate Concerning Lectures on Faith,”; Partridge, Notes on the Authorship of the Lectures on Faith,; and Phipps, “Lectures on Faith: An Authorship Study.”

    Reynolds, Noel B. “The Case for Sidney Rigdon as Author of the Lectures on Faith.” Journal of Mormon History 32 (Fall 2005): 1–41.

    Reynolds, Noel B. “The Authorship Debate concerning Lectures on Faith: Exhumation and Reburial.” In The Disciple as Witness: Essays on Latter-day Saint History and Doctrine in Honor of Richard Lloyd Anderson, edited by Stephen D. Ricks, Donald W. Parry, and Andrew H. Hedges, 355–382. Provo, UT: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 2000.

    Partridge, Elinore H. Characteristics of Joseph Smith’s Style and Notes on the Authorship of the Lectures on Faith. Task Papers in LDS History 14. Salt Lake City: History Division, Historical Department, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1976.

    Phipps, Alan J. “The Lectures on Faith: An Authorship Study.” Master’s thesis, Brigham Young University, 1977.

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    Doctrine and Covenants, 1835 ed., [75].

    Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).

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    “Prospectus,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Sept. 1834, 192; see also Notice, Evening and Morning Star, June 1832 (Jan. 1835), 16.

    The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.

    Evening and Morning Star. Edited reprint of The Evening and the Morning Star. Kirtland, OH. Jan. 1835–Oct. 1836.

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    Phelps, Diary and Notebook, 16 May 1835; Whitmer, Daybook, 16 May 1835.

    Phelps, William W. Diary and Notebook, ca. 1835–1836, 1843, 1864. CHL. MS 3450.

    Whitmer, John. Daybook, 1832–1878. CHL. MS 1159.

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    Oliver Cowdery, “Address,” LDS Messenger and Advocate, May 1835, 1:120–122; Whitmer, Daybook, 18 May 1835.

    Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.

    Whitmer, John. Daybook, 1832–1878. CHL. MS 1159.

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    Ebenezer Robinson, “Items of Personal History of the Editor,” The Return, Apr. 1889, 58; July 1889, 104. On 14 November 1835, after the Doctrine and Covenants was published, Phelps wrote to his wife: “We have, when all are in the office, three apprentices and four journeymen, and we shall have to employ some more men, as our work is so far behind.” (William W. Phelps, Kirtland, OH, to Sally Phelps, Liberty, MO, 14 Nov. 1835, in Historical Department, Journal History of the Church, 14 Nov. 1835, CHL.)

    The Return. Davis City, IA, 1889–1891; Richmond, MO, 1892–1893; Davis City, 1895–1896; Denver, 1898; Independence, MO, 1899–1900.

    Historical Department. Journal History of the Church, 1896–. CHL. CR 100 137.

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    Ebenezer Robinson, “Items of Personal History of the Editor,” The Return, May 1889, 75.

    The Return. Davis City, IA, 1889–1891; Richmond, MO, 1892–1893; Davis City, 1895–1896; Denver, 1898; Independence, MO, 1899–1900.

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    JS, Kirtland, OH, to “Dear brethren,” [Missouri], 15 June 1835, JS Collection, CHL; Copyright for first edition of Doctrine and Covenants, 14 Jan. 1835, Copyright Records, Ohio, 1831–1848 (Department of State), unnumbered vol., Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress, Washington DC; title page and “Preface,” Doctrine and Covenants, 1835 ed., [i], [iii]–iv.

    Smith, Joseph. Collection, 1827–1846. CHL. MS 155.

    Copyright for Doctrine and Covenants, 14 Jan. 1835. Copyright Records, Ohio, 1831–1848 (Department of State). Unnumbered vol. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress, Washington DC.

    Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).

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    See, for example, Revelation Book 1, pp. 194–198, and Revelation Book 2, pp. 20–25, 28–31.

    Revelation Book 1 / “A Book of Commandments and Revelations of the Lord Given to Joseph the Seer and Others by the Inspiration of God and Gift and Power of the Holy Ghost Which Beareth Re[c]ord of the Father and Son and Holy Ghost Which Is One God Infinite and Eternal World without End Amen,” 1831–1835. CHL. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Robert J. Woodford, and Steven C. Harper, eds., Manuscript Revelation Books, facsimile edition, first volume of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2009).

    Revelation Book 2 / “Book of Revelations,” 1832–1834. Revelations Collection, 1831–ca. 1844, 1847, 1861, ca. 1876. CHL. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Robert J. Woodford, and Steven C. Harper, eds., Manuscript Revelation Books, facsimile edition, first volume of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2009).

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    Revelation Book 2, pp. 20, 31, 111.

    Revelation Book 2 / “Book of Revelations,” 1832–1834. Revelations Collection, 1831–ca. 1844, 1847, 1861, ca. 1876. CHL. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Robert J. Woodford, and Steven C. Harper, eds., Manuscript Revelation Books, facsimile edition, first volume of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2009).

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    For example, it appears that Oliver Cowdery did much of the work of identifying which items would appear at the beginning of the second part of the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants.

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    Similar editing work was probably done on some of the revelations published in early issues of The Evening and the Morning Star, though no such marked-up copies have been located.

  26. [26]

    The later pages of Revelation Book 2 possibly reflect an attempt to collect and copy previously unpublished revelations into a single source. (See JSP, MRB:409–410.)

    JSP, MRB / Jensen, Robin Scott, Robert J. Woodford, and Steven C. Harper, eds. Manuscript Revelation Books. Facsimile edition. First volume of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman. Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2009.

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    Revelation, 9 Feb. 1831, in Revelation Book 1, pp. 62–67 [D&C 42:1–72].

    Revelation Book 1 / “A Book of Commandments and Revelations of the Lord Given to Joseph the Seer and Others by the Inspiration of God and Gift and Power of the Holy Ghost Which Beareth Re[c]ord of the Father and Son and Holy Ghost Which Is One God Infinite and Eternal World without End Amen,” 1831–1835. CHL. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Robert J. Woodford, and Steven C. Harper, eds., Manuscript Revelation Books, facsimile edition, first volume of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2009).

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    See Minute Book 2, 3 June 1831.

    Minute Book 2 / “The Conference Minutes and Record Book of Christ’s Church of Latter Day Saints,” 1838, 1842, 1844. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.

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    Minute Book 1, 17 Feb. 1834; see also Minutes, 17 Feb. 1834, in Doctrine and Covenants 5, 1835 ed. [D&C 102].

    Minute Book 1 / “Conference A,” 1832–1837. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.

    Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).

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    These updates were first made when the revelation was published in Evening and Morning Star, July 1832 (Feb. 1835), 30–31. The same updates were then introduced into Doctrine and Covenants 13:8, 10, 19, 1835 ed. [D&C 42:31, 34, 71].

    Evening and Morning Star. Edited reprint of The Evening and the Morning Star. Kirtland, OH. Jan. 1835–Oct. 1836.

    Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).

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    Copyright for first edition of Doctrine and Covenants, 14 Jan. 1835, Copyright Records, Ohio, 1831–1848 (Department of State), unnumbered vol., Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress, Washington DC.

    Copyright for Doctrine and Covenants, 14 Jan. 1835. Copyright Records, Ohio, 1831–1848 (Department of State). Unnumbered vol. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress, Washington DC.

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    The preface is dated 17 February 1835. (“Preface,” Doctrine and Covenants, 1835 ed., [iii]–iv.)

    Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).

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    William W. Phelps, Kirtland, OH, to Sally Phelps, Liberty, MO, 26 May 1835, William W. Phelps, Papers, BYU. A notice in the fifth issue of Evening and Morning Star, printed sometime in June 1835, apologized for publication delays caused by work on “a book of much importance.” As the fourth issue of Evening and Morning Star was dated April 1835, significant work on the Doctrine and Covenants evidently occurred between issues. (Notice, Evening and Morning Star, Oct. 1832 [June 1835], 80; Notice, Evening and Morning Star, Sept. 1832 [Apr. 1835], 64.)

    Phelps, William W. Papers, 1835–1865. BYU.

    Evening and Morning Star. Edited reprint of The Evening and the Morning Star. Kirtland, OH. Jan. 1835–Oct. 1836.

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    Editorial, LDS Messenger and Advocate, May 1835, 1:122.

    Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.

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    JS, Kirtland, OH, to “Dear brethren,” [Missouri], 15 June 1835, JS Collection, CHL.

    Smith, Joseph. Collection, 1827–1846. CHL. MS 155.

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    In counseling the Twelve regarding fundraising in branches of the church, JS stated: “We remind you of these things, in the name of the Lord, and refer you to the book of covenants, 2nd. Section, 2nd. part, and 12, paragraph and ask, did we not instruct you to remember first the house, secondly the cause of Zion, and then the publishing the word to the Nations?” Though the extant version of the letter refers to the “2nd” section of the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants, the third section was probably the intended reference. (JS, Kirtland, OH, to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, 4 Aug. 1835, in JS Letterbook 1, p. 91.)

    JS Letterbook 1 / Smith, Joseph. “Letter Book A,” 1832–1835. Joseph Smith Collection. CHL. MS 155, box 2, fd. 1.

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    Minute Book 1, 17 Aug. 1835. The minutes were published in a condensed and somewhat modified format as “General Assembly,” in LDS Messenger and Advocate, Aug. 1835, 1:161–164, and “General Assembly,” in Doctrine and Covenants, 1835 ed., 255–257.

    Minute Book 1 / “Conference A,” 1832–1837. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.

    Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.

    Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).

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    Minute Book 1, 17 Aug. 1835.

    Minute Book 1 / “Conference A,” 1832–1837. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.

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    JS History, vol. B-1, 600.

    JS History / Smith, Joseph, et al. History, 1838–1856. Vols. A-1–F-1 (original), A-2–E-2 (fair copy). Historian’s Office, History of the Church, 1839–ca. 1882. CHL. CR 100 102, boxes 1–7. The history for the period after 5 Aug. 1838 was composed after the death of Joseph Smith.

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    Minute Book 1, 17 Aug. 1835.

    Minute Book 1 / “Conference A,” 1832–1837. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.

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    “General Assembly,” in Doctrine and Covenants, 1835 ed., 256.

    Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).

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    “General Assembly,” in Doctrine and Covenants, 1835 ed., 257; see also Minute Book 1, 17 Aug. 1835.

    Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).

    Minute Book 1 / “Conference A,” 1832–1837. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.

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    Minute Book 1, 17 Aug. 1835; “Marriage,” ca. Aug. 1835, in Doctrine and Covenants 101, 1835 ed.

    Minute Book 1 / “Conference A,” 1832–1837. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.

    Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).

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    Minute Book 1, 17 Aug. 1835; “Of Governments and Laws in General,” ca. Aug. 1835, in Doctrine and Covenants 102, 1835 ed. [D&C 134].

    Minute Book 1 / “Conference A,” 1832–1837. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.

    Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).

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    “General Assembly,” in Doctrine and Covenants, 1835 ed., 256–257; “Index,” Doctrine and Covenants, 1835 ed., i–iii; “Contents,” Doctrine and Covenants, 1835 ed., v–xxiii; “Notes to the Reader,” Doctrine and Covenants, 1835 ed., xxv.

    Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).

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    Revelation, 1 Nov. 1831–B, in Revelation Book 1, p. 125; “Index,” Doctrine and Covenants, 1835 ed., i.

    JSP, MRB / Jensen, Robin Scott, Robert J. Woodford, and Steven C. Harper, eds. Manuscript Revelation Books. Facsimile edition. First volume of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman. Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2009.

    Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).

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    “Index,” Doctrine and Covenants, 1835 ed., i.

    Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835.

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    Revelation Book 2, pp. 20, 111, 31. In addition, the text of section 7 was marked in Revelation Book 2 with slashes apparently in the same ink flow as the notations that read “To go into the covenants.” These slashes served an unknown purpose but indicate this revelation was being surveyed at the same time as the three sections with that notation. (See JSP, MRB:487n56.)

    JSP, MRB / Jensen, Robin Scott, Robert J. Woodford, and Steven C. Harper, eds. Manuscript Revelation Books. Facsimile edition. First volume of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman. Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2009.

  49. [49]

    See “Table 3: Relationship between Items in Revelation Books 1 and 2 and the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants.”

  50. [50]

    See “Table 3: Relationship between Items in Revelation Books 1 and 2 and the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants.”

  51. [51]

    See JSP, MRB:159n196.

    JSP, MRB / Jensen, Robin Scott, Robert J. Woodford, and Steven C. Harper, eds. Manuscript Revelation Books. Facsimile edition. First volume of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman. Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2009.

  52. [52]

    See “Table 3: Relationship between Items in Revelation Books 1 and 2 and the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants.”

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    Two revelations not published in the Book of Commandments were also included in this grouping: sections 42 and 54.

  54. [54]

    See “Table 3: Relationship between Items in Revelation Books 1 and 2 and the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants.”.

  55. [55]

    The final two sections in the volume, sections 101 and 102, present articles on marriage and government, respectively, that were created circa August 1835 as work on the volume was concluding. (See Minute Book 1, 17 Aug. 1835.)

    Minute Book 1 / “Conference A,” 1832–1837. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.

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    Revelation, 3 Nov. 1831, in Doctrine and Covenants 100, 1835 ed. [D&C 133], was referred to as an “appendix” as early as May 1833. (“Revelations,” The Evening and the Morning Star, May 1833, [1]–[2]; see also Appendix 1: Revelation, 3 Nov. 1831, p. [6], in JSP, MRB:405 [D&C 133].)

    Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).

    The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.

    JSP, MRB / Jensen, Robin Scott, Robert J. Woodford, and Steven C. Harper, eds. Manuscript Revelation Books. Facsimile edition. First volume of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman. Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2009.

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    See “Table 3: Relationship between Items in Revelation Books 1 and 2 and the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants.”

  58. [58]

    [William W. Phelps], “Doctrine and Covenants,” LDS Messenger and Advocate, Aug. 1835, 1:170.

    Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.

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    Phelps wrote to his wife on 18 September 1835: “We got some of the commandments from Cleveland last week.” (William W. Phelps, Kirtland Mills, OH, to Sally Phelps, Liberty, MO, 16–18 Sept. 1835, private possession, copy at CHL.)

    Phelps, William W. Letter, Kirtland Mills, OH, to Sally Waterman Phelps, Liberty, MO, 16–18 Sept. 1835. Private possession. Copy at CHL. MS 4587.

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    F. G. Williams and Company, Account Book, 2 (second numbering).

    F. G. Williams & Co. Account Book, 1833–1835. CHL. In Patience Cowdery, Diary, 1849–1851. CHL. MS 3493.

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    Minute Book 1, 16 Sept. 1835; William W. Phelps, Kirtland Mills, OH, to Sally Phelps, Liberty, MO, 16–18 Sept. 1835, private possession, copy at CHL.

    Minute Book 1 / “Conference A,” 1832–1837. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.

    Phelps, William W. Letter, Kirtland Mills, OH, to Sally Waterman Phelps, Liberty, MO, 16–18 Sept. 1835. Private possession. Copy at CHL. MS 4587.

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    F. G. Williams and Company, Account Book, 2 (second numbering). While other individuals and perhaps other committees or groups within the church would have sold copies of the book, that the printer sold only about eighty copies within the first two months of its availability suggests that sales were disappointing.

    F. G. Williams & Co. Account Book, 1833–1835. CHL. In Patience Cowdery, Diary, 1849–1851. CHL. MS 3493.

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    Minute Book 1, 2 Apr. 1836.

    Minute Book 1 / “Conference A,” 1832–1837. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.

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    John Smith, Kirtland, OH, to George A. Smith, Shinnston, VA, 15–17 Jan. 1838, George Albert Smith, Papers, CHL; Johnson, “A Life Review,” 24. A published notice of a sheriff’s sale lists “a quantity of Covenants” as part of the inventory of the printing office just before it was destroyed. (“Sheriff Sale,” Painesville (OH) Telegraph, 5 Jan. 1838, [3].)

    Smith, George Albert. Papers, 1834–1877. CHL. MS 1322.

    Johnson, Benjamin Franklin. “A Life Review,” after 1893. Benjamin Franklin Johnson, Papers, 1852–1911. CHL. MS 1289 box 1, fd. 1.

    Painesville Telegraph. Painesville, OH. 1822–1986.

Page 256

Afternoon.—After a hymn was sung, arose and introduced the “Book of doctrine and covenants of the church of the Latter Day Saints,” in behalf of the committee: he was followed by , who explained the manner by which they intended to obtain the voice of the assembly for or against said book: the other two committee, named above, were absent. According to said arrangement bore record that the book presented to the assembly, was true. President , also arose, and testified that it was true. Elder , taking the lead of the high council in , bore record that the revelations in said book were true, and that the lectures were judiciously arranged and compiled, and were profitable for doctrine; whereupon the high council of accepted and acknowledged them as the doctrine and covenants of their faith, by a unanimous vote. Elder , taking the lead of the high council of the church in , bore testimony that the revelations in said book were true, and the said high council of accepted and acknowledged them as the doctrine and covenants of their faith, by a unanimous vote.
President then read the written testimony of the Twelve, as follows. “The testimony of the witnesses to the book of the Lord’s commandments, which he gave to his church through Joseph Smith, jr. who was appointed by the voice of the church for this purpose: we therefore feel willing to bear testimony to all the world of mankind, to every creature upon the face of all the earth, and upon the islands of the sea, that the Lord has borne record to our souls, through the Holy Ghost shed forth upon us, that these commandments were given by inspiration of God, and are profitable for all men, and are verily true. We give this testimony unto the world, the Lord being our helper: and it is through the grace of God, the Father, and his Son Jesus Christ, that we are permitted to have this privilege of bearing this testimony unto the world, in the which we rejoice exceedingly, praying the Lord always, that the children of men may be profited thereby.” Elder bore record of the truth of the book and the council of the Seventy accepted and acknowledged it as the doctrine and covenants of their faith, by a unanimous vote.
Bishop bore record of the truth of the book, and with his counsellors, accepted and acknowledged it as the doctrine and covenants of their faith, by a unanimous vote.
Acting Bishop, , bore record of the truth of the book, and with his counsellors, accepted and acknowledged it as the doctrine and covenants of their faith, by a unanimous [p. 256]
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Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Doctrine and Covenants, 1835
ID #
7270
Total Pages
305
Print Volume Location
JSP, R2:301–593
Handwriting on This Page
  • Wilford Woodruff

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