1862 print: Facsimile of lettering from the Book of Mormon, #387 |
Nice small view titled Fac-simile de caracteres tires, sur la foi des Saints, des plaques originales du livre de Mormon, publie par M. J. Remy, from wood engraving with fine detail and clear impression, overall size is approx. 19.5 x 11 cm, image size is approx. 16 x 5.5 cm. From Le Tour du Monde, French 19th century illustrated exploration and travel magazine, which started publishing in 1860.
Book of Mormon
work accepted as holy scripture, in addition to the Bible, in the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and other Mormon churches. First
published in 1830 in Palmyra, N.Y., it was thereafter widely reprinted and
translated. Mormons hold that it is a divinely inspired work revealed to and
translated by the founder of their religion, Joseph Smith.
The Book of Mormon relates the history of a group of Hebrews who migrated from
Jerusalem to America about 600 BC, led by a prophet, Lehi. They multiplied and
eventually split into two groups. One group, the Lamanites, forgot their
beliefs, became heathens, and were the ancestors of the American Indians. The
other group, the Nephites, developed culturally and built great cities but were
eventually destroyed by the Lamanites about AD 400. Before this occurred,
however, Jesus had appeared and taught the Nephites (after his ascension). The
history and teachings were abridged and written on gold plates by the prophet
Mormon. His son, Moroni, made additions and buried the plates in the ground,
where they remained about 1,400 years, until Moroni, a resurrected being or
angel, delivered them to Joseph Smith; subsequently Smith returned them to
Moroni.
Non-Mormon critics disagree in their opinions as to the origin of the book; some
critics believe that it was written solely by Joseph Smith. Another theory, now
discredited, claimed that it was based on the manuscript of a novel by a
clergyman, Solomon Spaulding.