Book of Mormon Critical Text Project
The Book of Mormon Critical Text Project is a 30 year undertaking by BYU linguistics professor Royal Skousen. The result of his work includes, to date, 17 large-format reference books that analyze numerous aspects of the text of the Book of Mormon, which is an essential part of the scriptural canon of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Volume I
The Original Manuscript of the Book of Mormon
Volume I examines the original phrasing of the Book of Mormon, providing evidence on the process by which Joseph Smith translated, and shows how editors and printers have modified the wording to make it conform to the expectations of contemporary English readers.
Volume I is out of print.
Volume II
The Printer's Manuscript of the Book of Mormon
Only 28 percent of the original manuscript of the Book of Mormon has survived, but the handwritten printer’s manuscript used to prepare it for publication is virtually 100 percent extant. Volume two presents an exact typographic reproduction of the printer’s manuscript in two parts.
Volume II is out of print.
Volume III
The History of the Text of the Book of Mormon
Parts 1 and 2: Grammatical Variation
Parts 3 and 4: Nature of the Original Language
Part 5: The King James Quotations in the Book of Mormon
Part 6: Spelling in the Manuscripts and Editions
Parts 7 and 8 are forthcoming.
Volume IV
Analysis of Textual Variants of the Book of Mormon
This six-book set, titled Analysis of Textual Variants of the Book of Mormon, fulfills the central task of the critical text project, to restore the original text of the Book of Mormon to the extent possible using scholarly means.
Volume V
A Complete Electronic Collation of the Book of Mormon
This volume is not yet complete. It will be a digital collation of the work of the Book of Mormon Critical Text Project.
Learn More
Watch a series of video lectures summarizing findings from the Book of Mormon Critical Text Project.
Royal Skousen
Royal Skousen was Professor of Linguistics and English Language at Brigham Young University until his retirement in 2020. Skousen began working on the critical text of the Book of Mormon in 1988. He published the first two volumes of the Critical Text Project, namely, typographical facsimiles for the original and printer’s manuscripts of the Book of Mormon in 2001.