Origins Of The First Edition Book Of Mormon

By Antoinette Quinn


The Book of Mormon is a sacred religious text produced by the Latter Day Saints movement. Followers of the movement believe that the text contains writings of the prophets living on the American continent from 2200 BC to AD 421. Devout followers of the faith may be interested in collecting a First Edition Book of Mormon for their own personal study and use.

It was published by a religious convertor named Joseph Smith in March 1830. Smith told his followers that the manuscript was written in Egyptian characters which he found on engraved golden plates. He believed that the text was divinely inspired, and written by Moroni, who was the last prophet to contribute to the work. According to Smith, Moroni hid the holy text in what is known today as New York, buried in a hill.

Smith claimed that Moroni came to him as an angel to reveal the hidden location of the scared text. Smith believed that the angel instructed him to find and translate the book and spread the message, in order to lead people to the faith.

The ancient writings in this text referred to a group of people chosen by God to be led from Jerusalem into the Western Hemisphere, or the modern day Americas. This happened several hundred years before the birth of Jesus. Moroni was believed to be one of the prophets in this group of people and he buried the text, believing that God would allow it to resurface in the latter days before the return of Christ.

The Mormon faith teaches that Smith was seventeen when he first encountered Moroni as an angel, and was led to discover the text. The faith also teaches that Moroni met with Smith at the same hill where the text was discovered on September 22 every year in order to receive instructions from God to lead the Mormons.

Members of the Latter Day Saints Church believe that the manuscript is Holy Scripture that is parallel to and supersedes the Bible, and that it contains records of the ministry of Christ and his interaction with the ancient American people. It is separated into several shorter books, each named after a particular author. These individual books are composed of a series of chapters and religious verses. Although originally translated into English, the text has now been translated into more than hundred different languages.

There are many who criticise the Book of Mormon and its authenticity. Some theologists and archaeologists claim that the text was fabricated by Joseph Smith and that some portions were actually plagiarised from the King James Bible and other religious works. The scientific community has also questioned the reliability of the text for many reasons, such as the fact that there appears to be no correlation between locations that are described in the book and archaeological sites known by scientists.

However, for the avid collector, a First Edition Book of Mormon is viewed as a very worthwhile investment. Such a text has a value today of almost $100,000. There are many well-known Mormons, such as Mitt Romney, the Presidential candidate, whose celebrity status has ignited a renewed interest in Mormonism.




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