I found it an interesting exercise to compare
Dr. Gee's transcriptions and the book's transcriptions with the relevant images posted on the JSP website.
Dr. Gee writes:
Egyptian Alphabet Documents
….
Again, transcription is an issue in this section. For this section, we pick one page at random (p. 58) and note the following transcription errors:
◾ [Page 180]Line 7: For “{◊\B}ethcho” read “Bethcho.” There is no overwriting on the character although there is some touch-up. The scribe attempted to write the B with a loop at the bottom as on the previous line but needed to do so with two strokes of the pen, the second of which is slightly smeared.
◾ Line 7: For “fi{◊\f}th” read “fi{a\f}th”
◾ Line 9: For “injoym{◊\e}New Testament” read “injoym{e\a}New Testament”
◾ Line 11: For “resides” read “reside<s>”
◾ Line 12: For “Kah-tu-ain-tr{◊\i}eth-” read “Kah-tu-ain-tra<eth> -“
Compare these transcriptions to the image
here.
Dr. Gee writes:
Grammar and Alphabet of the Egyptian Language
This document has long been claimed to be the key document for the understanding of Egyptian by Church leaders in Kirtland. The authorship of the document is unknown. The transcriptions here are also a problem. Again, we pick a page at random (p. 134–35).
◾ Line 5: for “government,” read “government.” The punctuation is a period, not a comma.
◾ Line 7: for “desendent from” read “desendemt fron”
◾ Line 14: for “another” read “anothr”
◾ Line 15: for “{it\a}nd” read “{it\A}nd”
◾ Line 16: for “above, more” read “above, mor<e>”
◾ Line 19: for “possessions” read “possession<s>”
◾ Line 20: for “possession” read “possessian”
◾ Line 27: for “I{◊◊\at}a” read “I{to\at}a”
◾ Line 32: for “Hoe-oop” read “H{a\o}e-oop”
◾ Line 33: for “dominion” read “dom<i>nion”
Compare these transcriptions to the image
here.
Dr. Gee wrote:
Book of Abraham ManuscriptsThe manuscripts of the Book of Abraham have been published before by one of the editors. Unfortunately, these documents are also plagued by transcription problems. Again, we use a random page, p. 261, which contains the following transcription discrepancies:
◾ Line 1: For “Behold Potiphars” read “Behod Potiphas”
◾ Line 9: For “descendant” read “{d\<d>}escendant”
◾ Line 10: For “canaanites” read “canaanite<s>”
◾ Line 11: For “{s\〈S〉}prang” read “{S\〈s〉}prang”
◾ Line 12: For “canaanites” read “c<a>naanites”
◾ Line 13: For “prerevd” read “prerved“
◾ Line 15: For “Zep-tah” read “{G\Z}ep-tah“
◾ Line 16: For “Egeptah” read “Egeptah<us>”
Compare these transcriptions to the image
here.
It's also worth reviewing the JSP note on transcriptions
here.
“A scholar said he could not read the Book of Mormon, so we shouldn’t be shocked that scholars say the papyri don’t translate and/or relate to the Book of Abraham. Doesn’t change anything. It’s ancient and historical.” ~ Hanna Seariac
