The Kirtland Egyptian papers (KEP) are a collection of documents related to the Book of Abraham created in Kirtland between July and November 1835, and in Nauvoo between March through May 1842.Brian M. Hauglid, A Textual History of the Book of Abraham: Manuscripts and Editions, Studies in the Book of Abraham, Vol. 5 (Provo, Utah: Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, 2010). page 6 Because some documents were created in Nauvoo, the collection is sometimes referred to as the Book of Abraham and Related Manuscripts and Joseph Smith Egyptian Papers.
The papers include an "Egyptian alphabet" written in the hand of Joseph Smith, other Egyptian language related materials and early manuscript versions of the Book of Abraham in the handwriting of Oliver Cowdery, W. W. Phelps, Warren Parish, Willard Richards, and Frederick G. Williams.
The papers have been a source of controversy, because the translations and interpretations within are not considered accurate by Egyptologists, and have thus stoked questions of whether the Book of Abraham is a literal translation of the Joseph Smith Papyri. Some apologists of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) have postulated that many of the papers may have been produced by Smith's scribes without his involvement, and that they may have been intended as a speculative or naturalistic effort rather than a product of revelation.
Content The Kirtland Egyptian papers are housed in the Church History Library of the LDS Church. They comprise over a dozen other documents produced ca. 1835 and 1842 in Kirtland, Ohio, and Nauvoo, Illinois. All dates for production are estimates. Due to controversy about the order of production, there is no generally accepted manuscript numbering scheme. The manuscript numbers (MS #) reported below refer to the folder numbers under which the manuscripts are catalogued in the Church archives. These folder numbers were assigned by Hugh Nibley ca. 1971. The order given below mirrors the authoritative Joseph Smith Papers project.
Notebooks of copied Egyptian characters
Title Dimensions Description Handwriting Date Produced MS # "Valuable Discovery" Small 24-page notebook (21 blank pages) of copied Egyptian characters from a now non-extant version the Book of the Dead for Amenhotep.Rhodes, Michael, "Books of the Dead", 5 The front cover says, "Valuable Discovery of hiden reccords that have been obtained from the ancient buring place of the Egiyptians" [𝘴𝘪𝘤], and is then signed by Joseph Smith Jr. Oliver Cowdery (English text, likely Egyptian characters), Frederick G. Williams (redaction), Joseph Smith (signature) Early July 1835 6 Notebook of Copied Egyptian Characters Small 24-page notebook (21 blank pages) contains passage found in "Valuable Discovery", with characters and illustrations copied from various papyri. William W. Phelps. Egyptian characters in unknown handwriting. Frederick G. Williams' name and initials are on the back cover Early July 1835 7
When Michael Chandler arrived in Kirtland in 1835 with the Egyptian Papyri, he allowed Oliver Cowdery to copy "four or five different sentences" from the papyri. A translation of the lines by Joseph Smith were given to Michael Chandler to his satisfaction. Given that the "Valuable Discovery" notebook was written in Oliver Cowdery's hand, signed by Joseph Smith, with a translation of some of the characters, it is postulated that it is the same notebook.Jensen, Robin Scott, and Brian M. Hauglid, eds. Revelations and Translations, Volume 4: Book of Abraham and Related Manuscripts. Facsimile edition. Vol. 4 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Ronald K. Esplin, Matthew J. Grow, Matthew C. Godfrey, and R. Eric Smith. Salt Lake City: Church Historian's Press, 2018. page 25
Most of the copied Egyptian characters in either notebook were untranslated by Smith or his associates.
Some of the characters are translated to read "Katumin, Princess, daughter of On-i-tas King of Egypt, who began to reign in the year of the world 2962. Katumin was born in the 30th year of the reign of her father and died when she was 28 years old which was in the year 3020." The Egyptian Hieratic characters have been translated by modern Egyptologists to read "Recitation by the Osiris".Ritner, R. K. (2013). The Joseph Smith Egyptian papyri: A complete edition; P. JS 1-4 and the hypocephalus of Sheshonq. Salt Lake City: The Smith Pettit Foundation. page 260
The name Onitas appears in other Kirtland Egyptian manuscripts, and Joseph Smith's mother would later state that the mummies were "King Onitus and his royal household."Charlotte Haven, Nauvoo, IL, to "My dear Mother," 19 Feb. 1843, in Haven, "Girl's Letters from Nauvoo," 623
Copies of Egyptian characters Title Dimensions Description Handwriting Date Produced MS # Copies of Egyptian Characters-A Copies of hieratic characters from "Book of the Dead", and drawings of baboons and of a priest offering water. unknown Summer of 1835 8 Copies of Egyptian Characters-B Copies of hieratic characters from the "Book of the Dead" Unknown. Numbering by early 20th century apostle James Talmage Summer of 1835 9 Copies of Egyptian Characters-C Irregular. Known as the "Church Historian's Fragment" or fragment IX, it contains pasted papyri and copied characters. Unlike other papyri, it has been in continuous possession by the LDS church Unknown Summer of 1835 10 Copy of Hypocephalus Copy of the hypocephalus of Sheshonq, with lacuna showing. The lacuna were later filled in and published as Facsimile 2 in the Book of Abraham. Unknown Between July 1835 and March 1842
Egyptian alphabet documents Title Dimensions Description Handwriting Date Produced MS # Egyptian Alphabet-A 1st leaf – ; 2nd leaf – ; 3rd leaf – ; 4th leaf – The most complete of the three Egyptian alphabet documents. Joseph Smith, with some small additions by Oliver Cowdery and William W. Phelps Early July–November 1835 4 Egyptian Alphabet-B 1st leaf – ; 2nd leaf – ; 3rd leaf – ; 4th leaf Along with Phelps version, column not present in Joseph Smith's version for an unknown purpose.Oliver Cowdery Early July–November 1835 5 Egyptian Alphabet-C Four leaves of paper, Phelps has labeled the additional column "lettr", but after two entries, abandons the column Early July–November 1835 3 Egyptian Counting Two leaves of paper with a base 10 counting system. While titled, "Egyptian Counting," the characters are not Egyptian, and it is unknown where the characters originated from.The Joseph Smith Papers Revelations and Translations Volume 4 Book of Abraham and Related Manuscripts page 95 William W. Phelps Early July–November 1835 2 Scrap Small scrap of paper with the single word "Kolob" Warren Parrish July–November 1835 The three Egyptian alphabet documents created by Joseph Smith and his associates are an attempt to systematize the Egyptian language. Much like a dictionary, there are columns with the character, pronunciation and the definition of the character. The documents are incomplete, with many of the characters lacking definitions.
Some of the characters do not come from the Papyri, but from what Joseph Smith told William W. Phelps were Adamic language characters.The Joseph Smith Papers Revelations and Translations Volume 4 Book of Abraham and Related Manuscripts page 54
Grammar and alphabet of the Egyptian language Title Dimensions Description Handwriting Date Produced MS # Grammar and Alphabet of the Egyptian Language 108 leaves, all but 36 are blank. A significant expansion of the alphabet documents, with descriptions of characters in all 5 degrees of translation. William W. Phelps and Warren Parrish July–November 1835 1
Authorship controversy
Egyptologist I. E. S. Edwards stated that the Egyptian Alphabet and Grammar was "largely a piece of imagination and lacking in any kind of scientific value."Letter of I. E. Edwards, Keeper of the Department of Egyptian Antiquities, dated June 9, 1966, as quoted in Charles M. Larson, By His Own Hand Upon Papyrus, rev. ed. (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Institute for Religious Research, 1992), 43. Hugh Nibley commented that the Grammar was "of no practical value whatever."Nibley, "Meaning of the Kirtland Egyptian Papers," 357.
In 1968, Jay Todd suggested that the Grammar may have been reverse-engineered from an inspired Book of Abraham translation.Jay M. Todd, The Saga of the Book of Abraham (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1969), 253. In 1971, Hugh Nibley expanded on Todd's argument, explaining that the Alphabet and Grammar materials were largely an uninspired production of Joseph Smith's scribes, who had turned against him and were working independently of him at the time. This view is also accepted by John Gee.John Gee, A Guide to the Joseph Smith Papyri (Provo, Utah: FARMS, 2000), 24. Samuel M. Brown has argued for a slightly more nuanced version of this view, attributing to W. W. Phelps a "major" role in authoring the Alphabet and Grammar, while at the same time conceding that the project was carried on under Smith's direction. Brown asserts that it is "unlikely, though not impossible, that the Grammar was actively used in producing the Book of Abraham."Samuel M. Brown, "The Translator and the Ghostwriter: Joseph Smith and W. W. Phelps," Journal of Mormon History 34, no. 1 (2008): 62.
In 1970, Richard P. Howard proposed the opposite view: that the Alphabet and Grammar was the modus operandi of the Book of Abraham's translation.Richard P. Howard, "The 'Book of Abraham' in the Light of History and Egyptology," Courage: A Journal of History, Thought, and Action (1970): 38. Edward H. Ashment has also adopted this view, arguing against Nibley that the scribes of the KEP were all loyal to and in good standing with Joseph Smith at the time the manuscripts were produced.Edward H. Ashment, "Reducing Dissonance: The Book of Abraham as a Case Study," in The Word of God, ed. Dan Vogel (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1990), 227-228. More recently, Christopher C. Smith has argued at some length that Joseph Smith was the primary author of the Alphabet and Grammar documents, and that those documents served as the source or modus operandi for the translation of at least the first three verses of the Book of Abraham. According to Christopher, "This undoubtedly accounts for the choppiness and redundancy of these three verses, which stylistically are very different from the remainder of the Book of Abraham. Verse 3, for example, reads as though it has been cobbled together from a series of dictionary entries."Christopher C. Smith, "The Dependence of Abraham 1:1-3 on the Egyptian Alphabet and Grammar," John Whitmer Historical Association Journal 29 (2009): 38-54.
Book of Abraham manuscripts circa July-circa November 1835