The Printed Editions (Book of Mormon Lecture, 2 of 3)

Royal Skousen, "The Printed Editions" (Book of Mormon lecture, 2 of 3)

In 2013 the Laura F. Willes Center for Book of Mormon Studies sponsored three illustrated lectures by Brigham Young University Professor Royal Skousen called "25 Years of Research: What We Have Learned About the Book of Mormon Text."

As part of his ongoing Book of Mormon Critical Text Project, Skousen analyzed twenty printed editions of the Book of Mormon—fifteen published by the LDS Church, four by the RLDS Church (now the Community of Christ), and one private edition in 1858 (published by James Wright in New York City). The nature and history of these printed editions is the focus of this second lecture. Professor Skousen will compare the LDS and RLDS versions and identify the most innovative changes in the LDS editions. He will also bring his analysis up to date by discussing three editions published within the last decade, including Grant Hardy's A Reader's Edition (University of Illinois Press, 2003), the 2004 Doubleday edition (with text furnished by the LDS Church), and his own book, The Earliest Text (Yale University Press, 2009). Skousen is introduced by Larry Draper of the L. Tom Perry Special Collections at BYU.

Skousen is Professor of Linguistics and English Language at Brigham Young University. The lecture series is sponsored by the Laura F. Willes Center for Book of Mormon Studies, the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, and L. Tom Perry Special Collections at the Harold B. Lee Library.