Writings: Latter-day SaintsRevelation Book 19 of 10

Writings: Latter-day Saints

Revelation Book 1

Revelation Book 1 is a manuscript book of copies of more than one hundred revelations that Joseph Smith dictated, written mostly by John Whitmer and partly by Oliver Cowdery. The Joseph Smith Papers editors, who work for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, date it to about March 1831 to July 1835. The Church History Library holds it.

Last reviewed:

Three dates, kept apart

  1. The text's date: the tradition's view

    1828 to 1834, the revelations dictated by Joseph Smith, which the Latter-day Saint church teaches came from God (the range is the Joseph Smith Papers editors' for the items in the book; the church's Doctrine and Covenants introduction gives its account of how they were received)

  2. The text's date: critical scholars' view

    July 1828 to April 1834, the revelations dictated by Joseph Smith, whom H. Michael Marquardt holds responsible for the content of every message (his span for the revelation texts, about a third of which he counts as revised; he dates the heaviest revisions to 1835, and this bar marks the dictation alone, as the tradition's bar does)

  3. This copy made

    About March 1831 to July 1835, the revelations copied into the book and later edited (the Joseph Smith Papers editors' dating: the first half was copied mostly from spring to the end of 1831 and the last item in July 1835; the editors say the book may instead have begun in New York in summer 1830, but think an Ohio start in about March 1831 more likely)

  4. This copy found

    Not a find: the Joseph Smith Papers editors say the book likely stayed with church leaders after 1835, and separated leaves were bought by the Reorganized Church, now Community of Christ, in 1902 and acquired by the Latter-day Saint church in 2024 (the editors call the custody uncertain from 1835 to 1846, though they say it likely stayed with Joseph Smith, his office staff, and later church leaders).

All four rows share one timeline. A row with no marker says why in words. How ancient texts are dated.

What it is

Revelation Book 1 is a manuscript book of copies of more than one hundred revelations, written on ruled ledger paper.12 Joseph Smith was the first president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which holds him to be a prophet.3 A revelation here is a text that Latter-day Saints receive as a divine message to Smith, which he dictated to a scribe, a person who writes down another's words.31 The Joseph Smith Papers, the church's own scholarly edition, call the book Revelation Book 1; its spine reads Book of Commandments and Revelations2. Eighteen pages are missing.142

How the copy was dated

The Joseph Smith Papers date the book to about March 1831 to July 1835. The Church Historian's Press, an imprint of the church's Church History Department, publishes them.24 Their note names textual evidence and analysis, such as the order of entries, and identifies the handwriting; it describes no physical test of the paper or ink.2

The editors say the book may have begun in New York in summer 1830, when Smith's later history has him and John Whitmer starting to arrange and copy revelations. They think it likelier that Whitmer began in Ohio in about March 1831, once appointed to keep church records.2

Whitmer and Oliver Cowdery wrote the original text; William W. Phelps, Sidney Rigdon, Smith, and unidentified scribes appear only in later changes. The editors write that evidence indicates Rigdon made his changes in Ohio before the book went to Missouri in November 1831. They write that Whitmer and Cowdery could have made theirs from 1831 to 1835, though most first appear in print by 1833.2

Grant Underwood, a historian at Brigham Young University, which the church founded, supports, and guides, is a lead editor of two Papers volumes. He compares changed texts with other early versions where they exist. He judges it almost certain that Rigdon's changes date to 1831, and places some before November 20, 1831, when Whitmer and Cowdery left Ohio with the book. He writes that most changes were made between 1831 and 1833. Other scribes' changes, he adds, may also date to 1831.56 For methods, see how ancient texts are dated.

The text: its date and authorship

The strip marks one event in both rows: the dictation of the revelations, 1828 to 1834. The editors date the book's items to those years, and Marquardt gives July 1828 to April 1834 as the span of the revelation texts he discusses. The other sources consulted give no years.127

The tradition's view

This column carries the church's Doctrine and Covenants introduction, the Joseph Smith Papers, and Underwood. The introduction says the revelations were received in answer to prayer. Early Latter-day Saints, it adds, viewed them as messages from God and as living, dynamic, and subject to refinement with additional revelation. For 1835, it says, Smith oversaw edits to some revelations to correct errors, clarify wording, and recognize developments in doctrine and organization.3

The editors write that Smith and his followers held the revelations true in that they communicated God's mind and will, not in having flawless wording.1 Underwood reports that the bulk of the wording stayed unchanged to 1835, that nearly all changes are in the hands of Smith's associates, not his, and that most made in 1832 and 1833 respected the "sense" of the text. He argues that the texts are both fully divine and fully human.5

Scholars of the revelations: Marquardt and Compton

This column carries scholars who write outside the church's own publications: H. Michael Marquardt, whom Compton calls an independent researcher, and Todd Compton, who reviewed Marquardt's 1999 edition of the revelations in Dialogue, which calls itself independent. Marquardt argues that Smith revised his revelations as his theology developed, and that clear-cut changes bringing in later ideas may be characterized as anachronisms, ideas out of their proper time.8 He writes that the linguistic idiosyncrasies are Smith's own and that Smith was responsible for the content of every message. Whether Smith thought the ideas or the words were God's, he adds, is not completely known.79

Compton writes that earlier texts on church government were revised, anachronistically, to include newly developed offices. He holds that the textual history shows a much larger human part in the revelations than many see. This view, he writes, is a defense of revelation, not an attack on it, given the complexity of the evidence.910

How it was found

It was not found. The editors call the book's custody uncertain between the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants and the 1846 move from Nauvoo, Illinois. They say it likely stayed with Smith, his office staff, and later church leaders. It may be inferred, they write, that Joseph Fielding Smith, church historian from 1921 to 1970, had it as early as 1907.2

Cowdery and Whitmer took the book to Missouri for printing in November 1831.2 The Papers say antagonistic citizens of Jackson County destroyed the printing office in July 1833; the book escaped the violence and was back in Ohio by May 1835.1

In 1902 the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, now Community of Christ, approved buying separated leaves from George Schweich, a grandson of David Whitmer.211 In 2024 the Latter-day Saint church acquired them.2 The church's Newsroom list of items transferred in March 2024 names four pages from the book. They include portions of revelations now known as Doctrine and Covenants 64, 65, 66, 76, 81, and 133.1213

What it shows, and what it does not

It shows revelations copied in named hands from 1831 to 1835. Underwood reports hundreds of changes from 1831 to 1833, and the book gives the earliest extant wording of dozens of texts.5 The editors write that it was the source for revelations in the church's first newspaper and the primary source for the Book of Commandments. It was also a supplemental source for the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants.1

It does not show how the revelations came to Smith, since it holds copies, not the dictation. Underwood writes that he cannot be certain that the unrevised wording in this or any other prepublication manuscript matches the dictation exactly, though it appears to be very close. Marquardt writes that for most revelations there appears to be no surviving original manuscript.57

The editors read most changes made for publication as copyediting, with a minor subset updating earlier texts. Underwood reads changes before July 1833 as mostly grammatical or stylistic, and later ones as often updating texts. Marquardt and Compton read the updates as later ideas added to earlier texts.1459 Marquardt and Underwood each argue one thesis in the works cited here.

Sources

  1. Joseph Smith Papers editors. Introduction to Revelations and Translations: Volume 1, Introduction to the Manuscript Revelation Books. The Joseph Smith Papers (Church Historian's Press), opening section. Accessed 2026-11-03.
  2. Joseph Smith Papers editors. Revelation Book 1 (source note and historical introduction). The Joseph Smith Papers (Church Historian's Press, the church's scholarly publishing imprint), the Source Note and the Historical Introduction. Accessed 2026-11-06.
  3. Doctrine and Covenants: Introduction. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Accessed 2026-11-03.
  4. About the Project. The Joseph Smith Papers (The Church Historian's Press). Accessed 2026-11-04.
  5. Grant Underwood (Brigham Young University). Revelation, Text, and Revision: Insight from the Book of Commandments and Revelations. BYU Studies 48, no. 3 (2009), pp. 67 to 84 (the web edition at byustudies.byu.edu), 2009, pp. 67 to 84. Accessed 2026-11-06.
  6. About BYU (mission statement). Brigham Young University. Accessed 2026-11-04.
  7. H. Michael Marquardt (an independent researcher, per Compton). Revelations through Joseph Smith (chapter 12 of The Rise of Mormonism: 1816-1844). Posted by the author as a PDF of the chapter; the file does not state its edition. His 2023 book cites the second edition (Xulon Press, 2013)., pp. 191 to 195 of the posted chapter. Accessed 2026-11-06.
  8. H. Michael Marquardt (an independent researcher, per Compton). Development in Early Mormonism (Sandy, Utah, 2023): chapter 5, 'Changing Revelatory Messages: A Mormon Example', pp. 87 to 111, and chapter 7, 'The Joseph Smith Bible Project', pp. 112 to 123. Self-published by the author, 2023 (the PDF names no publisher and carries the author's copyright, which is the basis for 'self-published'); posted as a PDF on his site. Chapter 5 was first published in the John Whitmer Historical Association Journal 33 (Spring/Summer 2013), per the book's note., 2023, chapter 5 (pp. 87 to 103 on revisions to the revelations) and chapter 7 (pp. 112 to 123 on the Bible revision). Accessed 2026-11-06.
  9. Todd M. Compton. Textual Tradition, the Evolution of Mormon Doctrine, and the Doctrine & Covenants (review of H. Michael Marquardt, The Joseph Smith Revelations: Text & Commentary, Signature Books, 1999). Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 33, no. 3 (Fall 2000), web edition, 2000, the review (the web edition shows no page numbers). Accessed 2026-11-06.
  10. Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought (home page). Dialogue Foundation. Accessed 2026-11-04.
  11. Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Church History Topics). Accessed 2026-11-03.
  12. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Community of Christ. Frequently Asked Questions Clarify the Transfer of Sacred Sites and Historic Documents (with its appendix, List of Items Transferred). The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Newsroom, 2024, questions 1 to 3 and 7; the appendix. Accessed 2026-11-06.
  13. Community of Christ and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (joint statement). Responsibility and Ownership of Sacred Sites and Historic Documents Transfer to Church of Jesus Christ. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Newsroom (with Community of Christ), 2024, the statement. Accessed 2026-11-06.
  14. Joseph Smith Papers editors. Introduction to Revelations and Translations: Volume 2, Joseph Smith-Era Publications of Revelations. The Joseph Smith Papers (Church Historian's Press), sections on the first edition of the Doctrine and Covenants. Accessed 2026-11-03.