The BYU Religious Studies Center has now put up The Words of Joseph Smith in digital form for free on their website.
This is an immensely important resource, yet it has been out of print for many years now. That hasn’t really bothered me too much, since I own a copy, but for younger students who didn’t snatch one up when they were available, it was a problem. Being out of print is a problem no longer.
Kudos to the BYU Religious Studies Center for making this essential volume available to the public.
April 7, 2008 at 11:57 am
Yeah that is a great service. The bigger question is why on earth it has been out of print.
April 7, 2008 at 12:17 pm
Ehat did a second revised electronic edition (1996) which is available from the electronic databases. It has some important updates. Word on the street, that there is a forthcoming revised 3rd edition.
You are right that this is important, as a nice copy will put you out $500.
April 7, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Thank you for passing this along!!!
I have tried getting a copy on ebay and other sources. J. is right about the price these books usually fetch.
Thanks again.
April 7, 2008 at 12:42 pm
Ehat also has another book that is forthcoming, words and sayings of JS
April 7, 2008 at 12:53 pm
JM,
That’s Teachings and Sayings of JS.
April 7, 2008 at 1:00 pm
yes you are right brad, my bad
April 7, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Didn’t the first edition have Hoffmann contributions to it?
April 7, 2008 at 2:46 pm
Nope. The first two additions aren’t perfect, but there are no Hoffman forgeries. I think you are think of Jessee’s Personal Writings of JS.
April 7, 2008 at 3:06 pm
Ehat’s famous MA Thesis was also somewhat tainted by Hoffman forgeries — i.e. it presupposes the authenticity of the JSIII blessing.
April 7, 2008 at 3:24 pm
To get an offline version (one large PDF with all the pages) choose the “Printing Version” all the way at the bottom of the navigation bar, then save that when it’s done downloading.
What a find!
April 7, 2008 at 5:04 pm
This is really great, thanks for the link Kevin.
April 7, 2008 at 9:33 pm
Thanks for bringing this to CC. I downloaded it and have enjoyed reading from it this evening. I read it years ago. It will be fun to have it on PDF and be able to do key word searches.
April 7, 2008 at 10:24 pm
Ah, maybe it was the thesis that I was thinking of that has an acknowledgement to Hoffman at the front.
April 8, 2008 at 11:10 am
2 hits on Ham and Cain, 1 on Canaan, none in the context of skin color. “Land of Ham” is used presumably to refer to Egypt. No references to dark skin except to describe the apostle Paul. No hits on negro or black (except in describing Paul’s eyes).
This data doesn’t prove anything, and there are other JS texts that make use of these terms, but this is a nice resource. Thanks for the pointer, Kevin.
April 8, 2008 at 2:46 pm
Good to know. Trying to find a copy of this book has been a thorn in my side for a few years now. I wonder how much Kinkos would charge to print the whole thing, maybe 2 pgs per sheet.
April 9, 2008 at 10:36 am
I don’t think Ehat has given permission to have the first edition posted anywhere except as part of the LDS Collectors Library and its later iterations (as GospeLink or the most recent LDS Collector’s Library).
I can confirm that Ehat is indeed working on a new edition of Words due out hopefully this summer. And other books are indeed planned or in the works.
April 9, 2008 at 9:40 pm
The link doesn’t work for me. What am I doing wrong?
April 10, 2008 at 9:48 am
Unfortunately, it appears as if RSC has removed this title from the digital archive.
April 17, 2008 at 12:34 am
What’s the deal? It was up for 3 days and then it disappeared? I didn’t know it was a blue light special. That’s really irritating.