ANSWERS: 2
  • The church still has Joseph Smith's bound, 34-page book called Egyptian Alphabet and Grammar. The book has the hieroglyphs and a very similar English 'translation.' Smith translated thousands of English words from about 80 hieroglyphs. Joseph said this was the writing of Abraham and the word of his god. Actually it was a variant of the Book of the Dead, a pagan Egyptian magic book filled with heathen idols, often buried with mummies.
  • SHORT ANSWER: Yes. LONG ANSWER: Attached are images of and from Joseph Smith's "Egyptian Alphabet and Grammar". And here is Christopher Smith's accounting of this books "loss" and emergence: "The Rediscovery of Joseph Smith's Egyptian Alphabet and Grammar: A Short History The Alphabet and Grammar of the Egyptian Language prepared by Joseph Smith and his scribes in 1835 has been hidden away in a vault in the Salt Lake City Church Historian’s Office since 1855. All indications are that the Church Historians have been aware of the document’s whereabouts since at least 1908. That didn’t stop them from denying its existence even when two of the Church’s most dedicated defenders, Dr. Sidney B. Sperry and Dr. James R. Clark, inquired about it. Clark and Sperry finally extorted the secret from the Assistant Historian in 1935, though they were not permitted to inform the public about the discovery until some time thereafter. When finally Clark and Sperry began to publicly discuss the document, they neglected to mention of the fact that it contained absolutely no accurate information about the Egyptian language. To make matters worse, in 1956 Mormon scholar William E. Berrett straightfacedly declared that Joseph Smith had developed “the first Egyptian grammar in America,” and had done so entirely independently of Champollion! Berrett felt he could safely make this claim because the Grammar had never been published and was available only to authorized personnel. In fact, Dr. James Clark went so far as to state that he didn’t think the Alphabet and Grammar should be submitted to scholars. He preferred to “depend on our testimonies of the gospel.” Fortunately ex-Mormon researchers Jerald and Sandra Tanner were unsatisfied with Clark’s solution, and in 1966 an inside source at the Church Historian’s Office provided them with a microfilm copy of the document. They published it, in its entirety, in their book Joseph Smith’s Egyptian Alphabet and Grammar. It is still the only edition of the Grammar currently in print, and is available from Utah Lighthouse Ministry for a mere eight dollars. (Michael H. Marquardt's edition of the Joseph Smith Egyptian Papers improves considerably upon the Tanners', but is out of print and difficult to find.) The Tanners’ publication of the document demonstrated once and for all that Joseph Smith could not translate Egyptian. For a fuller account of the saga of the Egyptian Alphabet and Grammar, see Jerald and Sandra Tanner’s recounting of the tale in Mormonism: Shadow or Reality, pages 355-365." http://chriscarrollsmith.blogspot.com/2008/05/rediscovery-of-joseph-smiths-egyptian.html Mormon Historian and Manuscript Expert H. Michael Marquardt describes this book as follows on his website and in his book, "The Joseph Smith EGYPTIAN PAPERS" Compiled By H. Michael Marquardt (1981) "Manuscript No. 1, ca. 1835. "EGYPTIAN ALPHABET" on outside spine; also labeled at top of 1st to 4th degree "Egyptian Alphabet"; inserted on first page of the 5th degree above first line is "Grammar & A[l]phabet of the Egyptian Language." This manuscript is in the handwriting of William W. Phelps and Warren Parrish, scribes to Joseph Smith, Jr. Bound book with handwriting on 34 pages, 184 blank pages remaining. There are characters in a left hand column with English explanations to the right. Original in LDS archives. Explanation: The drawn characters with spelling such as "Beth Ba=eth" appears to be the English sound of the particular character at left. At times a character may be dissected into parts of a character. The handwritten characters when they are located on the Egyptian papyri are at times poorly copied. Characters not on the papyrus are added between copies of Egyptian characters. The Grammar and Alphabet contains five Degrees divided into two parts. This compilation places the pages of the bound Grammar and Alphabet in the order of first part, from first to fifth degree and then second part, from first to fifth degree. Page numbers are given at the end of the English text for each page. Crossed-out words or letters not included. NOTE: THIS IS NOT AN AUTHENTIC GRAMMAR AND ALPHABET OF THE EGYPTIAN LANGUAGE. IT DOES NOT CONTAIN ANY GRAMMAR OR ANY GENUINE OR RELIABLE ANALYSIS OF THE EGYPTIAN LANGUAGE. THIS IS PART OF THE JOSEPH SMITH EGYPTIAN PAPERS. IT IS MADE AVAILABLE TO HELP UNDERSTAND JOSEPH SMITH IN 1835 WHEN HE WAS PREPARING TO WORK ON THE BOOK OF ABRAHAM." http://www.xmission.com/~research/about/alphabet.htm And finally if you're REALLY interested in this document you can order a photographic facsimile for your library by using this link: http://www.utlm.org/booklist/titles/josephsmithsegyptianalphabet_ub010.htm And finally, the attached Video will help the read understand the purpose and history of this book within it's greater context.

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