The Church explains some of the content added to the 1876 Doctrine and Covenants.
"Doctrine and Covenants," Church History Topics, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, accessed December 2, 2024
Other editions followed, each introducing some changes to the formatting of the volume and including additional revelations. In Nauvoo, Joseph Smith supervised an edition that added several new sections and was published shortly after his death in 1844. The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in Britain saw the need for British Saints to have access to the revelations and prepared a European edition for use overseas based on the 1844 Nauvoo edition. Reprintings of the Nauvoo and European editions supplied copies to members as the Church grew, but in the 1870s, President Brigham Young directed Orson Pratt of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles to update the Doctrine and Covenants. The 1876 edition divided each section into verses and added 26 new sections, including a revelation on celestial marriage, an account of Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery’s vision of Elijah in the Kirtland Temple, Joseph’s prophecy on war, and excerpts from his letters from Liberty Jail.