Item Detail
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11704
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5
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0
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English
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The Book of Mormon in English, 1870-1920 : A Publishing History and Analytical Bibliography
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University of California at Los Angeles
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Ph.D. diss.
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"The purpose of the study is to elucidate the publishing history of the Book of Mormon between 1870 (the date of transfer of the book's printing plates to Utah) and 1920 (the date of a long-lasting and influential format revision), and through that history to gain a clearer picture of publishing and printing in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) in general. LDS publishing organization and practice was then compared both to those of mainline Protestant denominations and to two other denominations with their origins in nineteenth century America, Christian Science and Seventh-Day Adventism. The study was pursued on two levels. Copies of each American printing of the Book of Mormon were analyzed and described in accordance with the principles of description codified by Fredson Bowers. The relationship among editions, impressions and issues was analyzed and described. At the same time, relevant documents were investigated in the archives of both the LDS church and the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS), in an effort to clarify relationships, timing of impressions, and responsibility for each edition. Through this research, it was possible to identify three editions, fourteen impressions and one issue of the Book of Mormon which had not been previously listed in bibliographic sources or which were inaccurately described in those sources; to conclude that one printing listed by Flake does not exist; and to clarify the publishing history of the "Independence Editions" of 1916-1920. In addition some useful archival information was available to clarify the development of several impressions. The picture of LDS publishing organization and practice which appears in this study is of a highly centralized, but informally controlled operation in which control is maintained at the highest ecclesiastical levels and in which the focus of the program is kept on central church goals. Comparisons with descriptions of other church publishing operations contained in the literature lead to the conclusion that in these features the LDS practice is significantly different from the usual denominational pattern, from the two American minority churches, and from the RLDS church, as well." [Author's abstract]