The lost 116 pages

[_Uncle Dale]

...
I suspect if the plates were actually printing plates or tin plates, then they were probably destroyed.

THE FOOLS' GOLD Bible.

Visitors to Palmyra, N.Y. are advised to seek out the site of the old Sherman Carriage Co. at what is now the corner of Prospect and Main in downtown Palmyra. The Carriage building burned down in 1868 but its blacksmith shop remained standing until after the turn of the century. The original Sherman wagon shop and its smithy were built in the 1820s by Rhodes Sherman, Sr. Sherman's son Alson was a contemporary of Joseph Smith, Jr. and Oliver Cowdery and it seems that he was privy to some details about various secret activities carried on by those two in his father's shop in about 1828. Oliver Cowdery was then a part-time coppersmith who possessed considerable skill in preparing copper engraving plates for the old-fashioned hand printing presses of that period.

He had most recently found some employment in this line of work and related tasks in Canadaigua, but, following the untimely death of his employer, young Cowdery lodged first with his brother and then with his cousins (the Joe Smith family of Manchester) and there became a sometime participant in the infamous "Gold Bible Company."

After Joseph Smith, Jr. had his dream about the angel, it was decided in private midnight consultations that the contrived appearance of real metallic plates would be of especial use to the Bible Company. Oliver was dispatched to the Sherman smithy with orders to fabricate a book of plates, held together with rings. Making use of various bits of scrap copper, Cowdery first attempted to forge the necessary production out behind the wagon shop. When that process proved too tedious for his taste, the coppersmith instead beat some worn-out engraving plates into serviceable "ancient sheets," nearly as thin as paper. According to onlooker Sherman, a half-dozen such plates were manufactured, but for what purpose he was never told.

Burnished to a gleaming finish with brass polish, the copper plates had the look and feel of pure gold to the credulous farmers of that region. Still, they were so few and so unlike gold in weight that the Bible Company made slight use of their wondrous treasure. Once Mr. Harris and the Whitmers had been adequately fooled Cowdery and Smith exchanged the copper "treasure" for new hats and a couple of plugs of tobacco in Macedon and all were happy with the trade.

http://www.sidneyrigdon.com/dbroadhu/CA ... 120088-4a5
http://www.sidneyrigdon.com/dbroadhu/IL ... htm#000035

[_AlmaBound]

According to Vogel, this period must have been early July to mid-Sept., 1828 David Whitmer
agrees that Joseph went "three months" with no "plates." He evidently worked at being a
farmer at Harmony during that period.

Dale, is there any indication from any witnesses that Smith performed any work on the manuscript during this three month period?

I know there are times when Joseph is reported as having performed translation without having the plates present at all, but what I don't know is if this time period is one of them.

My thought is that while the "stranger" was off working on his redaction and including any updated theological material, Joseph was working on his own update as well, in an effort to give himself a greater role in the outcome.

[_Jersey Girl]

I need a storytime with AlmaBound. Tell me what happened to the 24 plates?

Liking your odd hobby,
Jersey Girl

I'm not convinced there were any such "golden plates." However, the "plates" the witnesses referred to may simply have been papers that were seen "with the spiritual eye."

Or, more intriguing to me, they may have been rolled copper printing plates, used as a prop, as Oliver Cowdery had some background as a printer's assistant.

I don't buy the "tin plates" theory, but that is possible too, I suppose.

What happened to them? If the plates were actually manuscript papers, then they ended up in the cornerstone of the temple.

I suspect if the plates were actually printing plates or tin plates, then they were probably destroyed.

No! What happened to the 24 plates in the Book of Mormon storyline.

[_AlmaBound]

No! What happened to the 24 plates in the Book of Mormon storyline.

Oh! Well, they are "found" by the people of Limhi (see Mosiah chapter 8), but there are some difficulties associated with the finding of those plates.

For example, the plates were supposed to have been kept together with the interpreters, per the Lord's instruction in Ether, but for some reason, the plates were found by the people of Limhi, yet Mosiah had the interpreters. They had been separated somehow.

[_Jersey Girl]

No! What happened to the 24 plates in the Book of Mormon storyline.

Oh! Well, they are "found" by the people of Limhi (see Mosiah chapter 8), but there are some difficulties associated with the finding of those plates.

For example, the plates were supposed to have been kept together with the interpreters, per the Lord's instruction in Ether, but for some reason, the plates were found by the people of Limhi, yet Mosiah had the interpreters. They had been separated somehow.

So, are there correlations there to real life events?

I don't know where you've been for the last 10 years that I've been online, AlmaBound, but I demand that you stay and teach me your odd ways!

:-D

[_AlmaBound]

So, are there correlations there to real life events?

I don't know where you've been for the last 10 years that I've been online, AlmaBound, but I demand that you stay and teach me your odd ways!

:-D

Well sure, Jersey Girl, you can compare Mosiah chapter 8 to the historical account of Joseph and Martin Harris, at least superficially.

What's funny is this part:

Mosiah 8:5 And it came to pass that he caused that the plates which contained the record of his people from the time that they left the land of Zarahemla, should be brought before Ammon, that he might read them.

We're told the plates contain a record of those who left Zarahemla, and that story actually begins in Mosiah chapter 9, and bears little resemblance to the plates of Ether, except perhaps in some interesting numerical parallels.

[_AlmaBound]

I don't know where you've been for the last 10 years that I've been online,

You've spent ten years online without having read the book for yourself?

Why?

[_moksha]

Mark Beesley had an intriguing thought:

I think some guy named Solomon Spaulding got a hold of them and thought, "Hey, this would make a good story." But before he could finish his book, the pages were stolen by another guy named Ethan Smith, and he thought, "Hey, this would make a good story." And the rest is history . . .

[_Jersey Girl]

I don't know where you've been for the last 10 years that I've been online,

You've spent ten years online without having read the book for yourself?

Why?

I forget who started this thread so I'll take a chance on offending them by replying to this. ;-) Here are the quick answers to "Why?".

1. I haven't spent the whole ten years discussing Mormonism.
2. I once had a poster (who shall remain nameless) offer to go through
the whole book with me and we both dropped the ball on that.
3. No one, prior to you, has ever sparked my interest in reading the entire book.

I'm totally serious about #3.

[_AlmaBound]

3. No one, prior to you, has ever sparked my interest in reading the entire book.

I'm totally serious about #3.

I've wanted to "reverse engineer" the book for a long time, beginning with the book of Ether, in an effort to put down on paper the redaction process while taking into account known historical events and identification of the inspiration for each of the characters, but have been too lazy to follow through. I think it was Whitsitt who said that he thought he could identify the various voices within the book and I'd like to see something like that accomplished.

It would be a huge project, and most likely, aside from you I doubt if many people would be much interested.

Teancum and Seantum are the biggest mysteries to me within the book. I've got a couple of ideas about who they were, but none of this has much to do with the original poster's topic, so I'll stop rambling.