The Book of Mormon [printed in the Deseret Alphabet]
- Hardcover
- New York: Published for the Deseret University by Russell Bros, 1869
New York: Published for the Deseret University by Russell Bros, 1869. First edition. Hardcover. Good. xi, 443p. Octavo [23 cm] Black cloth over boards with title and image of the Salt Lake Temple gilt stamped on the spine and triple blind ruled borders on the covers. Cloth boards a bit dampstained. Several ripples in cloth of rear board. Spine ends chipped and frayed. Splits in cloth along the front joint (the longest split, at the foot of the spine, measures 1 and 1/2"). Underlying boards exposed occasionally along the edges. Front hinge just a little soft, but text block still very strong. Rear free endpaper absent. 1 cm dark stain on top edge of the text block that has bled into the top margins of pp. 335-388 (most of the staining is very minor). Else, the pages are remarkably clean and bright. With the bookplate of the notorious Catholic adventurer and Southwestern trader Don Maguire on the front pastedown. Dominic "Don" Maguire (1852-1933), of Irish descent, was an early Ogden, Utah settler. His narratives of his three notable trading expeditions through Utah, Nevada, California, Arizona, and Mexico during the years 1876-1879 are original and striking contributions to the literature of the American West. Maguire is the subject of "Gila Monsters and Red-Eyed Rattlesnakes: Don Maguire's Arizona Trading Expeditions, 1876-1879" by Gary Topping (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1997).
"Utah history can hardly boast a more colorful character than Don Maguire, a trader, traveler, miner, archaeologist, poet and public figure who was one of the original members of Saint Joseph Parish in Ogden and lived in that city for more than six decades. Unfortunately, separating fact from fiction in telling the story of his life is no small problem, for most biographical information comes from his own pen, and he was known to stretch the truth. But even if only part of his narrative is true, he ranks with some of the legendary figures in Western history." - Gary Topping (https://www.icatholic.org/article/don-maguire-utah-catholic-adventurer-1086158).
The print run for the Deseret Alphabet Book of Mormon is usually cited as five-hundred, making this one of the rarest Book of Mormons.
The Deseret Alphabet was introduced in 1854 and was created by Parley P. Pratt, Heber C. Kimball, and George D. Watt. Made up of thirty-eight characters (apparently it was partially based on Pitman shorthand) to correlate with basic sounds in the English language, the Deseret Alphabet was intended to be used to help simplify the principles of the English language. The Deseret News announced in its issue of January 19, 1854, "The Board [of Regents] have held frequent sittings this winter, with the sanguine hope of simplifying the English Language, and especially its orthography. After many fruitless attempts to render the common alphabet of the day subservient to their purpose, they found it expedient to invent an entirely new and original set of characters."
Although only a written language, Brigham Young had high hopes for the new language, firmly believing it would unite the many foreign converts that were streaming into Utah from Europe. The creation of the language was one of the more unusual ideas of Brigham Young, and was never fully embraced by the Mormons. The Deseret Alphabet was abandoned shortly after Young's death. Flake/Draper 607. Auerbach I: 1183. Sabin 83050.
A historically important book with an interesting provenance.
"Utah history can hardly boast a more colorful character than Don Maguire, a trader, traveler, miner, archaeologist, poet and public figure who was one of the original members of Saint Joseph Parish in Ogden and lived in that city for more than six decades. Unfortunately, separating fact from fiction in telling the story of his life is no small problem, for most biographical information comes from his own pen, and he was known to stretch the truth. But even if only part of his narrative is true, he ranks with some of the legendary figures in Western history." - Gary Topping (https://www.icatholic.org/article/don-maguire-utah-catholic-adventurer-1086158).
The print run for the Deseret Alphabet Book of Mormon is usually cited as five-hundred, making this one of the rarest Book of Mormons.
The Deseret Alphabet was introduced in 1854 and was created by Parley P. Pratt, Heber C. Kimball, and George D. Watt. Made up of thirty-eight characters (apparently it was partially based on Pitman shorthand) to correlate with basic sounds in the English language, the Deseret Alphabet was intended to be used to help simplify the principles of the English language. The Deseret News announced in its issue of January 19, 1854, "The Board [of Regents] have held frequent sittings this winter, with the sanguine hope of simplifying the English Language, and especially its orthography. After many fruitless attempts to render the common alphabet of the day subservient to their purpose, they found it expedient to invent an entirely new and original set of characters."
Although only a written language, Brigham Young had high hopes for the new language, firmly believing it would unite the many foreign converts that were streaming into Utah from Europe. The creation of the language was one of the more unusual ideas of Brigham Young, and was never fully embraced by the Mormons. The Deseret Alphabet was abandoned shortly after Young's death. Flake/Draper 607. Auerbach I: 1183. Sabin 83050.
A historically important book with an interesting provenance.