Dissimilarities

Before showing some of the dissimilarities between the Book

of Mormon manuscript and Solomon Spalding’s manuscript, it

is only fair to state that there are similarities between the two.

Some of them, in fact, are very impressive. (The word “that,” for

instance, is similar in both manuscripts.) Nevertheless, we feel that

the dissimilarities far outweigh the similarities. A good example

is the use of capitalization in the two manuscripts. In the Book of

Mormon manuscript names are usually not capitalized, whereas the

names in Spalding’s manuscript begin with capitalization. Below is

a brief comparison of portions of the two manuscripts (we will use

the letter M to stand for the Book of Mormon manuscript and the

letter S to stand for the manuscript written by Solomon Spalding

The word “I” is not capitalized by the scribe who wrote the

Book of Mormon pages but in Spalding’s manuscript it is.

It is interesting to note that the 1831 revelation uses the small

“i” just like the Book of Mormon scribe and it is written in the

same manner.

The word “and” is usually written out in the Book of Mormon,

whereas Spalding uses the ampersand.

Occasionally the Book of Mormon scribe does use the

ampersand, but when he does it is not similar to Spalding’s

ampersand. The ampersand in the 1831 revelation, on the other

hand, is identical to the one found occasionally in the Book of

Mormon manuscript.

Don LeFevre pointed out a very important dissimilarity

concerning the formation of the letter “s” in the two manuscripts.

The Book of Mormon manuscript almost always uses the modern

style “s” except where two appear in a row. Solomon Spalding, on

the other hand, uses the old style at the beginning and even in the

middle of words. This old style looks almost like the letter “f.” The

word “these” makes an interesting comparison.

Below is a comparison of two lines from the “unknown” scribe

in the Book of Mormon manuscript and the Spalding manuscript.

The reader will notice that except where the letter “s” appears

twice in a row in the Book of Mormon manuscript the old style is

not used. In the Spalding manuscript, however, the words “most,”

“desire,” and “sword” all appear in the old style.

The use of the old style letter “s” in Solomon Spalding’s work

clearly shows that it was written prior to the 12 contested Book of

Mormon pages. Now, while a person might advance the theory that

Spalding changed to the more modern style just before his death in

1816, this would still leave the problem concerning capitalization

unexplained. It is very unlikely that he would change to the modern

style “s” in the Book of Mormon pages and then turn right around

and almost abandon the use of capital letters in proper names. We

think that this is strong evidence that the two documents did not

come from the same hand. We have noticed other dissimilarities

which we will not bother to mention at this time.

Other Problems

We feel that even if a hundred handwriting experts said that the

Book of Mormon pages and the Spalding manuscript were written

by the same hand, there are still serious historical problems which

would have to be explained before the theory could be accepted.

When we first told Wesley P. Walters of this new idea he

pointed out a very important item. The handwriting just before and

just after the “unknown” hand has been identified as that of Joseph

Smith’s scribes, and since Spalding died in 1816, it is rather difficult

to believe that his handwriting would appear in the middle. (The

Book of Mormon was, of course, written by Joseph Smith’s scribes

in the late 1820’s.) On June 28, 1977, Dr. Leonard J. Arrington,

Mormon Church Historian, issued a statement to the press in which

the following appeared:

The theory has been advanced that 12 pages among the 140

pages of the manuscript of the Book of Mormon in our possession

are in the handwriting of Solomon Spaulding, a person who died

in 1816. . . .

The theory is completely untenable. It would require us to

believe that Spaulding had written 12 pages in his copybook, that

those 12 pages somehow drifted 14 years later into the hands of an

unrelated young farm hand a long distance away, that this young

man while dictating the Book of Mormon inserted those 12 pages

into his manuscript part of the way through his narrative, and that

those 12 pages matched exactly the size and texture of the paper

which is just ahead of it and after it in the manuscript, and that

they match the ink and the language style and content of what the

young man had dictated before and after those pages. The whole

idea is preposterous.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the California researchers

have come up with the idea that all the pages in question and those

just before and after came out of Spalding’s notebook:

A number of questions about the pages linked to Spaulding

by the handwriting experts remain unanswered. And the research

project itself is not altogether a disinterested study.

Why a scribe would insert pages written by Spaulding into

the Book of Mormon manuscript instead of rewriting them is open

to conjecture.

“The sections in the archives appear to have been written at

the same time with the same ink on the same stock of paper,” said

LeFevre. “Why would Smith take the original manuscript and try

to match the ink and paper—it would have been easier to copy off

Spaulding’s writing in his own hand if he had wanted to plagarize.”

Researcher Cowdrey speculates that Smith had Spaulding’s

notebook in which the manuscript was written and simply had the

other scribes write new material on unused pages of the notebook

as Smith dictated. Then, Cowdrey reasons, Smith tore out some of

the pages written by Spaulding and all of the pages newly written

by the scribes and put them in their present sequence.

This, Cowdrey says, would explain the uniformity in the paper

stock and its age. (Los Angeles Times, June 25, 1977)

We feel that this idea as to how Spalding’s pages appeared

in the middle of pages written by Joseph Smith’s scribes is very

difficult to believe.

Another serious problem confronting those who believe that

Spalding actually wrote 12 pages of the manuscript of the Book of

Mormon is that it would make him responsible for all the words

that appear on these pages. Since the style is completely different

than that found in Spalding’s extant manuscript (see Part 2 of this

book), we are inclined to feel that he could not be the author.

The 12 pages of the Book of Mormon in the “unknown” hand

present a serious problem for those who accept the affidavits of

Solomon Spalding’s brother and some of his friends. Most of these

affidavits claim that Spalding’s work did NOT contain the religious

material found in the Book of Mormon.

John Spalding stated:

I have recently read the Book of Mormon, and to my great

surprize I find nearly the same historical matter, names, &c. as

they were in my brother’s writings. . . . according to the best of my

recollection and belief, it is the same as my brother Solomon wrote,

with the exception of the religious matter. (Mormonism Unvailed,

by E. D. Howe, 1834, p. 280)

John N. Miller testified:

I have recently examined the Book of Mormon, and find in

it the writings of Solomon Spalding, from beginning to end, but

mixed up with scripture and other religious matter, which I did not

meet with in the “Manuscript Found.” (Ibid., p. 283)

Aaron Wright stated: “He [Spalding] traced their journey

from Jerusalem to America, as it is given in the Book of Mormon,

excepting the religious matter” (Ibid., p. 284).

Speaking of Spalding’s work, Oliver Smith said that “no

religious matter was introduced, as I now recollect” (Ibid., p. 285).

Nahum Howard testified: “I have lately read the Book of

Mormon, and believe it to be the same as Spalding wrote, except

the religious part” (Ibid., p. 286).

Now, if these affidavits are are taken at face value, it is very

hard to explain the presence of religious material in the 12 pages

of the Book of Mormon manuscript. Actually, these 12 pages,

published as 1 Nephi 4:20 to 1 Nephi 12:8, are just filled with

religious material such as Lehi’s dream of the Tree of Life. While it

may be possible to postulate that Spalding wrote three manuscripts

instead of just two to explain this dilemma, we feel this would be

stretching one’s credulity.