The Joseph Smith Papers. Journals, Volume 1: 1832-1839

Salt Lake City, UT: The Church Historian's Press, 2008. Later printing. Hardcover. Fine/near fine. 506pp. Quarto [26 cm] Blue cloth over boards, with lettering and stamping in gilt and red on the backstrip and front board. Illustrated. "Joseph Smith has been one of the least accessible major figures in the history of American religion. The Joseph Smith Papers will forever change that by producing a monumental critical edition of every document written, dictated, or supervised by the Mormon prophet. This first offering, Journals, Volume 1: 1832-1839, already gives readers and researchers a fascinating glimpse of a new Joseph Smith. Its five texts depict a gifted young leader struggling to guide his unruly new religious movement on two fronts. As he labored to organize The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at Kirkland, Ohio, and sought to establish God's new Zion in hostile Missouri, Smith served as itinerant preacher, fund-raiser, farmer, construction supervisor, disciplinarian, litigant, commander, prisoner, and loyal family member as well as visionary, healer, and revelator. Al of these roles come vividly to life in these manuscript journals, meticulously edited according to the highest critical standards. Journals, Volume 1 is a splendid debut for what is certain to become one of the great landmarks in LDS publishing and scholarship." -Stephen A. Marini, Professor of Religion Wellesley College.