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Early 1830

Copyright for the Book of Mormon, filed in the Northern District of New York on June 11, 1829. Joseph Smith Papers Project, © by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.josephsmithpapers.org

In early 1830, as the Book of Mormon was being prepared for publication by E. B. Grandin in Palmyra, New York, Joseph Smith received a revelation instructing him to “secure the copyright” of the forthcoming book.[1] This revelation is sometimes designated the “Canadian copyright revelation,” so called because in it the Lord instructs the recipients to travel to the city of Kingston in what is today the Canadian province of Ontario. It was there, the Lord says, that Joseph was authorized to “sell a copyright” of the Book of Mormon to the remaining provinces. If the people of Kingston would not “harden their hearts” against the Spirit, the Lord assured the success of the endeavor.

The mission to Kingston, however, met with failure. We unfortunately do not know the particulars of why, but years later Hiram Page, one of the participants named in the revelation, left his own account in a letter to William McLellin that gives us some insight into the affair.[2] So too does a late recollection by David Whitmer, but his recounting is much more negative, esteeming the whole matter as a total fiasco and the revelation a failed one (and, by implication, not an actual revelation at all).[3]

Thanks to the recovery of the original text of this revelation—which, for example, clearly stipulates the conditional nature of the Lord’s promises on the faithfulness of both those addressed in the revelation and the inhabitants of Kingston—we can reasonably say that Whitmer’s negative assessment of this matter is not warranted.[4] Likewise, the legal factors at play in this text concerning the copyright of the Book of Mormon have also been explored at length,[5] so that we need not misapprehend the intentions behind this revelation. The point appears to have been, basically, to franchise the printing rights of the text, not relinquish it entirely in some supposed last-ditch effort on Joseph’s part to make quick money (as some have erroneously portrayed). Having the text of this revelation and understanding its social and legal context thus helps us tremendously as we piece together the history of the translation and publication of the Book of Mormon.[6]

The revelation contains the Lord’s pronouncement that he will deliver his servants out of “difficulty and affliction” according to their faith, as well as a promise that no power on earth shall prevent the Lord from pouring out his covenant blessings upon the faithful as long as they walk uprightly before him. These assurances may comfort Saints today just as much as they must have for the five men named in the revelation in 1830.

❋ ❋ ❋

A revelation given to Joseph Smith Jr., Oliver Cowdery, Hiram Page, Josiah Stowell, and Joseph Knight Sr., given at Manchester, Ontario Co., New York.

Behold, I, the Lord, am God. I created the heavens and the earth and all things that in them are; wherefore, they are mine, and I sway my scepter over all the earth. And ye are in my hands to will and to do, that I can deliver you out of every difficulty and affliction according to your faith, diligence, and uprightness before me. And I have covenanted with my servant, that earth nor hell combined against him shall not take the blessing out of his hands which I have prepared for him if he walketh uprightly before me—neither the spiritual nor the temporal blessing.

And behold, I also covenanted with those who have assisted him in my work, that I will do unto them even the same because they have done that which is pleasing in my sight; yea, even all save it be one only. Wherefore, be diligent in securing the copyright of my servant’s work upon all the face of the earth; of which is known by you unto my servant Joseph Smith Jr. and unto him whom he willeth according as I shall command him, that the faithful and the righteous may retain the temporal blessing as well as the spiritual. And also, that my work be not destroyed by the workers of iniquity to their own destruction and damnation when they are fully ripe.

And now, behold, I say unto you that I have covenanted and it pleaseth me that Oliver Cowdery, Joseph Knight Sr., Hiram Page, and Josiah Stowell shall do my work in this thing; yea, even in securing the copyright. And they shall do it with an eye single to my glory, that it may be the means of bringing souls unto my salvation through mine Only Begotten. Behold, I am God. I have spoken it, and it is expedient in me. Wherefore, I say unto you that ye shall go to Kingston, seeking me continually through mine Only Begotten. And if ye do this ye shall have my Spirit to go with you, and ye shall have an addition of all things which is expedient in me.

And I grant unto my servant a privilege that he may sell a copyright through you—speaking after the manner of men—for the four provinces, if the people harden not their hearts against the enticings of my Spirit and my word. For behold, it lieth in themselves to their condemnation or to their salvation. Behold, my way is before you, and the means I will prepare, and the blessing I hold in mine own hand. And if ye are faithful, I will pour out upon you even as much as ye are able to bear; and thus it shall be. Behold, I am the Father, and it is through mine Only Begotten, which is Jesus Christ your Redeemer. Amen.

Notes

[1] JSP, D1:108–12.

[2] Hiram Page, letter to William E. McLellin, February 2, 1848, reprinted in Dan Vogel, ed., Early Mormon Documents (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2003), 5:257–59.

[3] David Whitmer, An Address to All Believers in Christ (Richmond, MO.: David Whitmer, 1887), 30–32.

[4] See for instance Marlin K. Jensen, “The Joseph Smith Papers: The Manuscript Revelation Books,” Ensign, July 2009, 51; Book of Mormon Central, “Why Did Joseph Smith Attempt to Secure the Book of Mormon Copyright in Canada?” KnoWhy #556, April 7, 2020, https://www.knowhy.bookofmormoncentral.org.

[5] Nathaniel Hinckley Wadsworth, “Copyright Laws and the 1830 Book of Mormon,” BYU Studies 45, no. 3 (2006): 77–99; Stephen K. Ehat, “‘Securing’ the Prophet’s Copyright in the Book of Mormon: Historical and Legal Context for the So-called Canadian Copyright Revelation,” BYU Studies 50, no. 2 (2011): 5–70.

[6] On which, see generally Michael Hubbard MacKay and Gerrit J. Dirkmaat, From Darkness unto Light: Joseph Smith’s Translation and Publication of the Book of Mormon (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2015).