Extract from the new translation of the Bible, It being the 24th chapter of Matthew; but in order to show the connection we will commence with the last verse of the 23rd chapter, viz.  Published for the benefit of the Saints. [Kirtland? 1835?]
Broadside 30.5 x 25 cm.

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This broadside prints the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew as revised by Joseph Smith in the spring of 1831.  Two manuscripts containing this text are in the possession of the Community of Christ (formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints): the original manuscript (NT 1), and a copy made by John Whitmer in the summer of 1831 with later corrections by Joseph Smith (NT 2).  This broadside differs at a number of points from both NT 1 and NT 2, but generally it follows NT 1.

It is not at all clear where or when this broadside was printed.  Some have suggested it was published in Nauvoo in the 1840s to refute the teachings of William Miller, and it is so entered in Cecil K. Byrd’s A Bibliography of Illinois Imprints (Chicago, 1966), no. 782.  But there are reasons for believing it was printed earlier.  Of all the early Mormon presses, the type style of the Messenger and Advocate most closely resembles that of the broadside.  Moreover, the text is printed in John Corrill’s A Brief History of the Church of Christ of Latter Day Saints (St. Louis, 1839), exactly as in the broadside except for one omission and some improvements in punctuation and capitalization.  Because of the activity of the Kirtland press in 1835, this broadside is tentatively assigned as an 1835 Kirtland imprint.

Excerpted and edited from Peter Crawley, A Descriptive Bibliography of the Mormon Church.  Volume One, 1830-1847. (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University, Religious Studies Center, [1997]).  Item 25, p. 60-61.

Used by permission of the author and the Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University.