I am hoping to update the research a friend did back in the 1990s.
If you are near a library or some other collection that has American Bible printings of the Authorized King James Version pre-1830, (1) how many are there in the collection, and (2) of that number, how many contain the Apocrypha?
My friend, Matt Roper, did something similar back in the mid-90s. He
examined 143 American Bible printings of the Authorized King James Version published between 1800 and 1830, he found that only 40 (less than a third) contained the Apocrypha. (John A. Tvedtnes and Matthew P. Roper, "'Joseph Smith's Use of the Apocrypha': Shadow or Reality?," FARMS Review of Books 8, no. 2 [1996]: 331)
I am hoping to update this in 2026.
If you can help, you can email me the figures (with the name/location of the repository) at ScripturalMormonism@gmail.com
Thanks!
