![[MORMON]. A Brief Account of the Discovery of the Brass Plates Recently taken from a Mound in the Vicinity of Kinderhook, Pike County, Illinois.... Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois: [John] Taylor & [Wilford] Woodruff, Printers, 24 June 1843.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2007/NYR/2007_NYR_01851_0285_000(021722).jpg?w=1)
ANOTHER PROPERTY
[MORMON]. A Brief Account of the Discovery of the Brass Plates Recently taken from a Mound in the Vicinity of Kinderhook, Pike County, Illinois.... Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois: [John] Taylor & [Wilford] Woodruff, Printers, 24 June 1843.
Details
[MORMON]. A Brief Account of the Discovery of the Brass Plates Recently taken from a Mound in the Vicinity of Kinderhook, Pike County, Illinois.... Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois: [John] Taylor & [Wilford] Woodruff, Printers, 24 June 1843.
Broadside (16¼ X 11¾ in). Heading at top, descriptive text in two columns in a very small type, beneath are 12 woodcut illustrations of the brass plates (each about 2¾ x 1½ in.) Minor soiling, a few light stains; weak along old folds, affecting a few letters in one place (repairable).
ONE OF FOUR SURVIVING COPIES OF A RARE NAUVOO IMPRINT, THIS COPY OWNED BY EMMA HALE SMITH (1804-1879), WIFE OF JOSEPH SMITH
A remarkable faith-promoting poster, announcing the discovery of the "Kinderhook Plates," hailed as archaeological "proof" for the Book of Mormon. The dramatic folio broadside was published by Taylor and Woodruff, two future Presidents of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In April 1843, six curiously shaped brass plates cut in the shape of a bell were excavated by Robert Wiley, "a respectable merchant," from an Indian mound at Kinderhook, south of the Nauvoo settlement. These bore hieroglyphic inscriptions in an unknown tongue and were bound together by a ring not unlike the golden tablets described years earlier by Joseph Smith. Their discovery was heralded by John Taylor, editor of the Times and Seasons, in an editorial of 1 May as "additional testimony to the authenticity of the Book of Mormon." The text printed here recounts the discovery of the plates and adds a certificate signed by 9 residents of Kinderhook, testifying to the veracity of the discoverer, Wiley. It also quotes favorable notices in a non-mormon paper published at Quincy, Illinois, and promises that "the contents of the plates, together with a facsimile of the same will be published in the 'Times & Seasons,' as soon as the Translation [by Joseph Smith] is completed." Although the Kinderhook plates and their mysterious texts were many years later proven to be a hoax, planted by non-Mormons, this dramatic broadside remains one of the rarest and most intriguing early Mormon imprints.
The broadside is known in at least two different typesettings (Crawley 180 and 181); the present conforms to Crawley 180, which the bibliographer conjectures--from certain misspellings--may be the earlier of the two. Of that setting, Crawley further distinguishes three variants, distinguished by slight differences in the text of the heading and the imprint beneath the first column. Of the three variants at total of only three copies is recorded: the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint, Library of Congress, and Harvard University. (Two copies of the presumed later typesetting are also extant.) Flake 8956; Crawley 180.
Provenance: Emma Hale Smith (1804-1879). On a small slip affixed to the top margin is a mid-nineteenth century ink inscription: "Mrs. Smith, Widow of the Mormon Prophet, presented this engraving to the Donor at Nauvoo 1847: she did not believe in Mormon." presented in 1847 to an unidentified "donor" -- Discovered in Illinois many years ago in conjunction with a photograph album of Julia Murdock Smith Middleton, daughter of Joseph and Emma Smith.
Broadside (16¼ X 11¾ in). Heading at top, descriptive text in two columns in a very small type, beneath are 12 woodcut illustrations of the brass plates (each about 2¾ x 1½ in.) Minor soiling, a few light stains; weak along old folds, affecting a few letters in one place (repairable).
ONE OF FOUR SURVIVING COPIES OF A RARE NAUVOO IMPRINT, THIS COPY OWNED BY EMMA HALE SMITH (1804-1879), WIFE OF JOSEPH SMITH
A remarkable faith-promoting poster, announcing the discovery of the "Kinderhook Plates," hailed as archaeological "proof" for the Book of Mormon. The dramatic folio broadside was published by Taylor and Woodruff, two future Presidents of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In April 1843, six curiously shaped brass plates cut in the shape of a bell were excavated by Robert Wiley, "a respectable merchant," from an Indian mound at Kinderhook, south of the Nauvoo settlement. These bore hieroglyphic inscriptions in an unknown tongue and were bound together by a ring not unlike the golden tablets described years earlier by Joseph Smith. Their discovery was heralded by John Taylor, editor of the Times and Seasons, in an editorial of 1 May as "additional testimony to the authenticity of the Book of Mormon." The text printed here recounts the discovery of the plates and adds a certificate signed by 9 residents of Kinderhook, testifying to the veracity of the discoverer, Wiley. It also quotes favorable notices in a non-mormon paper published at Quincy, Illinois, and promises that "the contents of the plates, together with a facsimile of the same will be published in the 'Times & Seasons,' as soon as the Translation [by Joseph Smith] is completed." Although the Kinderhook plates and their mysterious texts were many years later proven to be a hoax, planted by non-Mormons, this dramatic broadside remains one of the rarest and most intriguing early Mormon imprints.
The broadside is known in at least two different typesettings (Crawley 180 and 181); the present conforms to Crawley 180, which the bibliographer conjectures--from certain misspellings--may be the earlier of the two. Of that setting, Crawley further distinguishes three variants, distinguished by slight differences in the text of the heading and the imprint beneath the first column. Of the three variants at total of only three copies is recorded: the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint, Library of Congress, and Harvard University. (Two copies of the presumed later typesetting are also extant.) Flake 8956; Crawley 180.
Provenance: Emma Hale Smith (1804-1879). On a small slip affixed to the top margin is a mid-nineteenth century ink inscription: "Mrs. Smith, Widow of the Mormon Prophet, presented this engraving to the Donor at Nauvoo 1847: she did not believe in Mormon." presented in 1847 to an unidentified "donor" -- Discovered in Illinois many years ago in conjunction with a photograph album of Julia Murdock Smith Middleton, daughter of Joseph and Emma Smith.