The Book of Lehi

The Book of Lehi

I was most interested to read Stan Larson’s article, “A Most Sacred Possession,” in the September 1977 issue.

On page 87, he writes of the 116 manuscript pages “from the book of Lehi” that were lost, and again, “after the translated pages of the book of Lehi had been lost.”

I have searched all my references and it is my understanding that the 116 manuscript pages that were lost were translated from the Large Plates of Nephi, and that after they were lost the Prophet Joseph Smith did not retranslate the plates, but instead translated the Small Plates of Nephi.

Glenn O. Pollard
Ogden, Utah

Brother Stan Larson replies: The 116 pages that were lost, mentioned in my article, were from the first section of the plates of Mormon, and that first book was called the book of Lehi. Support for this is found in the preface to the first edition of the Book of Mormon: “I [Joseph Smith] translated, by the gift and power of God, and caused to be written, one hundred and sixteen pages, the which I took from the Book of Lehi, which was an account abridged from the plates of Lehi, by the hand of Mormon.” Also in the heading to chapter II of the Book of Commandments of 1833, now section 3 of the Doctrine and Covenants, we read: “after Martin [Harris] had lost the Manuscript of the forepart of the book of Mormon, translated from the book of Lehi, which was abridged by the hand of Mormon. …”