The Parallel Book of Mormon
The 1830, 1837, and 1840 Editions
INTRODUCTION BY CURT BENCH
hardback. 664 pages. / 978-1-56085-203-2 / $75.00

Three separate editions of the Book of Mormon appeared during Joseph Smith’s lifetime. These are the 1830 edition, published in Palmyra, New York; the 1837 edition published in Kirtland, Ohio; and the 1840 edition published in Nauvoo, Illinois. The printing of each of these was supervised by Joseph Smith, who made and authorized corrections and improvements to the text of each.

These were the only three editions Joseph Smith was involved with. In the current publication, the text of all three is reproduced in parallel-column format for comparison, allowing readers to see where corrections and other changes were made during the book's first decade. This is the first time for the three editions to be presented in this format. The text is unchanged from the originals, the eccentricities retained but nevertheless re-typeset for ease in reading and comparing.

Curt A. Bench, bookseller and student of Mormon history for over three decades, provides the publication background for these three landmark editions of this work of scripture. Bench recounts the fascinating history behind the appearance of each new edition, all of them produced under primitive frontier conditions and in the context of criticism from outside and inside the church, all of which made their successful production even more remarkable than otherwise.

Curt Bench is a graduate of Brigham Young University; for the past twenty years he has been the proprietor of Benchmark Books of Salt Lake City, the premier outlet for Mormoniana—signifi-cant, rare, and hard-to-find volumes dealing with Mormonism. His knowledge of Mormon history is vast and extends far beyond the physical attributes of the books he buys and sells to an ecyclopedic memory of the information they contain. He is a respected member of the Utah Westerners, composed of historians and history buffs who meet once a month to discuss history and travel to historic sites on annual excursions. Prior to opening his own store, he managed the Cottonwood branch of Deseret Book and the Deseret rare book department at its flagship downtown Salt Lake City store. He has given many presentations at the Mormon History Association meetings, Sunstone symposia, and elsewhere. He is the publisher of The First Book of Mormon: A Celebration of the 1830 Book of Mormon with an Original Leaf and other fine-press leather books in limited eiditions.