Writings: Latter-day SaintsThe Book of Commandments (1833)8 of 10

Writings: Latter-day Saints

The Book of Commandments (1833)

The Book of Commandments is the first printed collection of Joseph Smith's revelations, typeset in Independence, Missouri, from late 1832 until July 1833. Vigilantes destroyed the printing office on 20 July 1833, before any book was bound. The Church History Library counts about 30 known copies, all incomplete; the Joseph Smith Papers, fewer than three dozen. Neither page is dated.

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Three dates, kept apart

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

    1828 to 1834, when Joseph Smith dictated most of his written revelations, which the Latter-day Saint church holds came from God (the Joseph Smith Papers editors' range for the whole body of revelations; the book printed a selection of them, so this bar is wider than the book)

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

    1828 to 1834, borrowed from the Joseph Smith Papers editors for the dictation of the revelations (the critical sources read, Whitmer, the Tanners, and Brodie and Morgan as Best reports them, dispute the later changes and, for all but Whitmer, the revelations' divine origin, but give no dates of their own for the dictation)

  3. This copy made

    late 1832 to July 1833, when the book was typeset and printed by W. W. Phelps & Co. in Independence, Missouri (the title page is dated 1833; the Joseph Smith Papers editors, who work for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, place the start of typesetting no earlier than November 1832 and no later than December 1832, and the end at the vigilantes' attack on the printing office on 20 July 1833)

  4. This copy found

    Not a find: the surviving copies are hand-bound from sheets rescued from the 1833 attack, and the Joseph Smith Papers trace the featured Wilford Woodruff copy to the Latter-day Saint church's Historian's Office in 1854, with continuous custody by that church since

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

What it is

The Book of Commandments is the first printed collection of Joseph Smith's revelations, the messages that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches came from God.1 Its title is A Book of Commandments, for the Government of the Church of Christ. W. W. Phelps & Co. printed it in Independence, Missouri, in small pages about 11 by 8 centimeters (4.5 by 3 inches), and its title page is dated 1833.2

A church conference voted on 1 November 1831 to print ten thousand copies. The Literary Firm, the committee overseeing publication, cut the run to three thousand in April 1832, probably because of the paper on hand. The surviving copies end at page 160, partway through chapter 65, though at least one more section was planned.2 The sources read do not say how many copies were printed. The book that replaced it is the Doctrine and Covenants, the Latter-day Saint church's collection of revelations. See also Revelation Book 1, the manuscript the printers worked from.

How the copy was dated

The title page gives the place and year, 1833.2 The editors of the Joseph Smith Papers, the church's own scholarly publication, date the start of typesetting from the typefaces used in the printing office, which suggest that the first gathering, a folded section of pages, began no earlier than November 1832. They give December 1832 as the latest start, when the church's newspaper said the book was being printed. They place the later gatherings by comparing texts in Revelation Book 1, the newspaper, and the book, and by letters about a proof sheet. Church leaders had dedicated the printing office on 29 May 1832.23

Printing stopped on 20 July 1833. In the editors' account, four to five hundred Missouri vigilantes stormed the printing office, destroyed or took much of its contents, and ended all of the church's printing in Independence. The editors quote Phelps and Cowdery's lawsuit as saying the attackers tore down and destroyed the printing office and seized the press. They add that it was apparently pushed from a window and damaged. The church's introduction to the Doctrine and Covenants calls the attackers a mob.21

The destruction came before any book was bound, so the surviving copies were bound later from rescued sheets. Their contents and bindings vary, and the title page appears in two forms, with and without a border.2 The pages read describe no laboratory test of the paper or ink. For the methods, see how ancient texts are dated.

The text: its date and authorship

The strip marks the dictating of the revelations, which the editors place between 1828 and 1834. The book printed a selection from them. The critical bar borrows those years because the critical sources read dispute the later changes and, for most, where the revelations came from. None dates the revelations.4

The tradition's view

This column carries the church's Doctrine and Covenants introduction, the Joseph Smith Papers editors, and Karl Best, an author in Dialogue, reporting a believer's view. Dialogue calls itself independent.5 The introduction calls the book a collection of divine revelations, most received through Smith. It says a church conference in 1831 asked him to correct those errors or mistakes which he may discover by the Holy Spirit.1 For the 1835 volume it says Smith oversaw editing to correct errors, clarify wording, and recognize developments in Church doctrine and organization1 in some revelations.1

The Papers editors write that most changes, in 1832 and 1833 and again in 1835, were copyediting. In 1832 and 1833 the larger changes were mostly a phrase or a word and largely clarified the language, with updates to church government in only a few cases. A minor subset of the 1835 changes were substantive and often reflected changes in church government and doctrine since the revelations were dictated.62 Best reports that Melvin Petersen, a believer, concluded in 1955 that a prophet cannot be justly criticized for rewriting the commandments he received.7

Scholars and writers on the revisions: Whitmer, the Tanners, Brodie, and Morgan

This column carries David Whitmer, one of the Three Witnesses to the Book of Mormon, and Jerald and Sandra Tanner, writing on the site of Utah Lighthouse Ministry, which describes its work as comparing Latter-day Saint teachings with Christianity and documenting problems in Latter-day Saint history.8 It also carries, only through Best, the authors Fawn Brodie and Dale Morgan.

Whitmer wrote in 1887 that the revelations were printed correctly in the Book of Commandments. He held that some were changed in the winter of 1834 because church leaders had gone too far and acted ahead of earlier revelations. He named the office of high priest, added to the Articles and Covenants, the church's founding articles.96

The Tanners write in The Case Against Mormonism, in an excerpt dated October 1967, The most serious charge, we feel, is that the revelations found in the Doctrine and Covenants have been changed.88 Best quotes them as holding that Smith had no right to revise revelations he presented as God's word. He adds that Brodie and Morgan argued the revelations were Smith's creations, received or changed as the situation demanded.7

Whitmer and the Tanners each argue one thesis in the works cited here.

How it was found

It was not found; it survived. After the attack, several Latter-day Saints rescued unbound sheets. The Church History Library names the sisters Mary and Caroline Rollins, who hid in a nearby cornfield. The sheets were later assembled and hand-bound for private use.10

The counts differ. The Papers editors write that it is unclear how many copies were saved and bound and that fewer than three dozen are known. The library says about 30 are known, all incomplete. Neither page is dated. Karl Best wrote in 1992 that a few hundred were bound.2107 The Papers feature the copy of Wilford Woodruff, an early member who gave it to the church's Historian's Office on 19 July 1854. It has stayed in church custody since.2

What it shows, and what it does not

The book shows the earliest printed form of the revelations. Comparing it with the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants shows changes. Best cites Petersen's finding that the changes between 1833 and 1835 were fifteen times the number in all editions from 1835 to 1921.7 The church's sources and the writers at right agree that the text was changed. A committee told to make all necessary verbal corrections set it mostly from the church's manuscript revelation book.2

It does not show how any revelation was received, since it prints finished texts, not the moments of dictation. Nor does it show whether the changes were corrections, clarifications, and updates, as the church's introduction and editors hold, or the changes that Whitmer and the Tanners object to. Best writes that the answer depends on one's concept of revelation and scripture.7

Sources

  1. Doctrine and Covenants: Introduction. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (scriptures, Doctrine and Covenants), the paragraphs on how the revelations were recorded, corrected, and published. Accessed 2026-11-06.
  2. Joseph Smith Papers editors (Church Historian's Press). Book of Commandments, 1833. The Joseph Smith Papers, Church History Department (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), source note and historical introduction. Accessed 2026-11-06.
  3. Book of Commandments (Church History Topics). The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the whole topic page. Accessed 2026-11-06.
  4. 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.
  5. Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought (home page). Dialogue Foundation. Accessed 2026-11-04.
  6. 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.
  7. Karl F. Best. Changes in the Revelations, 1833 to 1835. Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 25, no. 1 (Spring 1992), pp. 87 to 112, 1992, pp. 87 to 112; the survey of explanations on pp. 101 to 104 and the conclusion on pp. 109 to 111. Accessed 2026-11-06.
  8. Jerald and Sandra Tanner. Changing the Revelations (excerpt from The Case Against Mormonism, vol. 1, ch. 6). Utah Lighthouse Ministry (utlm.org); the page is dated October 1967 and says it is an excerpt from their book, 1967, the opening sections. Accessed 2026-11-06.
  9. David Whitmer. An Address to All Believers in Christ. Richmond, Missouri, 1887, 1887, pp. 49 to 62 (the sections on changes in the revelations). Accessed 2026-11-06.
  10. Book of Commandments (1833) (Foundations of Faith exhibit, 5 of 10). Church History Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the whole exhibit page. Accessed 2026-11-06.