Monday, June 27, 2022

Edmund Levi Kelley (RLDS) Addressing the "Author and Proprietor" Argument in 1884

  

The only thing claimed as a material change by any candid critic is in the inscription page, the first copy reading, “Joseph Smith, Author and Proprietor,” whereas in subsequent editions he is simply the “translator.” By examining the first page of the original, however, I find that he is set out there as the “translator,” and in the preface to the original he is clearly and emphatically set forth as the translator only, so far as his work in the matter is concerned, and hence it was not possible to have misled any reader by the words “Author and Proprietor,” as they there appeared. (Edmund Levi Kelley in Public Discussion of the Issues Between the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and The Church of Christ [Disciples], Held in Kirtland, Ohio, Beginning February 12th, and Closing March 8th, 1884 [Lamoni, Iowa: The Herald Publishing House, 1913], 4)

 

Further Reading:


The 1830 Book of Mormon listing Joseph Smith as “Author and Proprietor”