El Libro de Mormón/Traducción/Método/1829-1835

Tabla de Contenidos

1829

Cuenta hostil de noticias 11 de agosto 1829

y después de penetrar en la "madre tierra" a corta distancia, el [oro] Biblia se encuentra, junto con un enorme par de gafas! Él había sido dirigida, sin embargo, no dejar que ningún ser mortal examinarlas ", bajo pena de no menos" que la muerte instantánea! Fueron, por tanto, muy bien envuelto y excluidos de la "mirada vulgar de pobres mortales malvados!" Se dice que las hojas de la biblia eran planchas de oro, cerca de 8 pulgadas de largo, 6 de ancho, y un octavo de pulgada de espesor, en los cuales fueron grabados los caracteres o hyeroglyphics. Mediante la colocación de las gafas en un sombrero, y mirar en él, Smith pudo (que dicho, al menos,) a interpretar estos caracteres.

• Escribiente: No se ha especificado
• Cortina: No se ha especificado
• Instrumento: "Espectáculos" (es decir, intérpretes nefitas)
• Método: Espectáculos en el sombrero

Martin Harris (testigo), parafraseado en el The Gem 5 septiembre 1829

“En el otoño de 1827 un hombre llamado José Smith, de Manchester, en el condado de Ontario, dijo que había sido visitado por el espíritu de Dios en un sueño, y con conocimiento de que en una determinada colina en esa ciudad se depositó una Biblia de oro, que contiene un registro antiguo de origen divino. Afirma que después de la tercera visita del mismo espíritu en un sueño que él procedió a la mancha, tierra removida, y allí encontró la Biblia, junto con un gran par de gafas. Él también había sido dirigida a permitir que ningún mortal verlos bajo la pena de muerte inmediata, que medida cautelar que firmemente se adhiere a. El tesoro consistía en una serie de planchas de oro, cerca de 8 pulgadas de largo, 6 de ancho, y un octavo de pulgada de espesor, en la que estaban grabadas jeroglíficos. Mediante la colocación de las gafas en un sombrero y mirar en él, Smith interpreta a los personajes en el idioma Inglés.[”]

• Escribiente: Martin Harris
• Cortina: No se ha especificado
• Instrumento: "Espectáculos"
• Método: Espectáculos en el sombrero

1830

Martin Harris (testigo), parafraseado y reimpreso en New-York Telescope 20 Feb 1830

...procedió al lugar y encontró la Biblia, con un enorme par de gafas .... Se dice que han demostrado que algunos de estos personajes con el profesor Samuel L. Mitchell, de esta ciudad, quien no pudo traducirlos. Martin Harris regresó y puso a José Smith para el negocio de su traducción: que, "mediante la colocación de las gafas en un sombrero y mirando a ellos, Joseph Smith dijo que podía interpretar estos caracteres".

• Escribiente: Martin Harris
• Cortina: No se ha especificado
• Instrumento: "Espectáculos"
• Método: Espectáculos en el sombrero

Cuenta hostil de noticias 27 Feb 1830

El hombre inspirado que escribió la "Biblia de oro" en "planchas de bronce" en el idioma "egipcio reformado", a causa de su brevedad, según se nos informa, por medio de uno de estos profetas pseudo, nunca tuvo la mitad de la problemas que experimentamos en descifrar los pergaminos indecorosas de este oscuro representante de dominios antiguo de Plutón. Sus cartas y comunicaciones están todas escritas en griego gentes, y los personajes tan bien e imperfecta, que a pesar de la gran potencia de nuestros espectáculos editoriales, lo tenemos en un caso de quemar el garabato en la desesperación!

• Escribiente: No se ha especificado
• Cortina: No se ha especificado
• Instrumento: "Espectáculos?"
• Método: No se ha especificado

Cuenta hostil de noticias circa mayo 1830

Un tipo con el nombre de José Smith, quien reside en la parte superior del Condado de Susquehanna, ha sido, durante los últimos dos años se nos dice, empleado en dedicar como él dice, por inspiración, una nueva biblia. Fingió que había sido confiada por Dios con una Biblia de oro que había sido siempre oculta al mundo. Smith pondría su cara en un sombrero en el que tuvo una piedrecita blanca, y pretender leer de él, mientras que su coadjutor transcribe.

• Escribiente: No se ha especificado
• Cortina: No se ha especificado
• Instrumento: Stone
• Método: In a hat

Cuenta hostil de noticias 2 junio 1830

Ahora el resto de los actos del mago [Walters], ¿cómo cayó el manto' en el profeta Jo. Smith junio y cómo Jo. hecho un pacto con el espíritu', que después resultó ser un ángel, y la forma en que obtuvo el "Gold Biblia," Espectáculos y la placa-se de mama que no se registrará fielmente en el libro de Pukei?”

• Escribiente: No se ha especificado
• Cortina: No se ha especificado
• Instrumento: Espectáculos y la coraza [Walters el mago se dice que han tenido un " magia de piedra", que se llevó con él.]
• Método: No se ha especificado

Cuenta hostil de noticias 7 July 1830

LIBRO DE PUKEI.-Cap. 2 Contenido -.. .... 8 gafas de coraza-Oliver, etc .... [Joseph] arte elegido para interpretar el libro, que Mormón ha escrito, a saber, el oro de la Biblia? 8. "Y he aquí! Contesté el espíritu de los cavadores de dinero diciendo: ¿Cómo puede hacerse esto, como Yo no puedo leer ni escribir? Y él me dijo: "'Te daré una placa de pecho, que te guarden; del mal, y yo te enviaré un ayudante, incluso Oliver, el pedagogo ".

• Escribiente: Oliver Cowdery
• Cortina: No se ha especificado
• Instrumento: Espectáculos y la coraza
• Método: No se ha especificado

Cuenta hostil de noticias 2 agosto 1830

los vicios y locuras de los demás, si bien aprecia están llenas de instrucción, y que sólo requieren 'JO SMITH'S' Magia Espectáculos, o algún otro instrumento óptico de gran alcance para que se conviertan en nuestro propio beneficio.

• Escribiente: No se ha especificado
• Cortina: No se ha especificado
• Instrumento: "Espectáculos " (i.e., intérpretes nefitas)
• Método: No se ha especificado

Cuenta hostil de noticias 16 noviembre 1830

...que se dice para ser traducido del Jeroglíficos egipcios, en planchas de metal, por uno Smith, que fue habilitado para leer los caracteres de la instrucción de los Ángeles....

• Escribiente: No se ha especificado
• Cortina: No se ha especificado
• Instrumento: No se ha especificado
• Método: Impartido por ángeles

Oliver Cowdery en cuenta hostil de noticias 18 noviembre 1830

De acuerdo con el relato dado por uno de estos discípulos-Oliver Cowdery-en su exposición final de Kirtland, esta pretendida Apocalipsis fue escrito en planchas de oro, o algo parecido a las placas de oro, del espesor de estaño-7 pulgadas de largo, 6 pulgadas de anchura, y una pila de aproximadamente 6 pulgadas de profundidad. Ninguno entre los más aprendido en los Estados Unidos podía leer e interpretar la escritura de la mano, (salvo uno, y él podía descifrar, pero unas pocas líneas correctamente,) exceptuando este ignorante, Joseph Smith, Jr. Para él, dicen, era dado el espíritu de la interpretación; pero era ignorante del arte de la escritura, empleó este Oliver Cowdery y otros a escribir, mientras leía, interpretado, y tradujo esta poderosa Revelación.

• Escribiente: Oliver Cowdery
• Cortina: No se ha especificado
• Instrumento: No se ha especificado
• Método: El espíritu de inspiración

Cuenta hostil de noticias 20 noviembre 1830

Usted probablemente ha oído hablar de la Biblia de oro extraído de la tierra por Joseph Smith, el dinero-digger. Esto se ha traducido del idioma egipcio reformado al Inglés, por un par de gafas de piedra (proporcionados por un ángel) y un sombrero oscuro delante de sus ojos.

• Escribiente: No se ha especificado
• Cortina: No se ha especificado
• Instrumento: Espectáculos de piedra
• Método: Sombrero ante los ojos

Cuenta hostil de noticias 4 December 1830

En el otoño de 1827, un hombre llamado Joseph Smith, de Manchester, Condado de Ontario, Nueva York informó que se le había visitado tres veces en un sueño, por el espíritu de Dios, y con conocimiento de que en una determinada colina en esa ciudad, fue un Biblia de oro, que contiene un registro antiguo de naturaleza y origen divino. Al ir al lugar que encontró enterrado la Biblia con un enorme par de gafas: Las hojas (dijo, aunque 'no se le permitió a mostrar a ellos) eran planchas de oro, cerca de 8 pulgadas de largo, 6 de ancho, y 1 al 8 de pulgada caracteres o hieroglyphicks, que con los espectáculos que podía interpretar de espesor, en la que se grabó. Martin Harris un agricultor laborioso, captó el contagio, se llevó algunos de los personajes de diferentes sabios para traducir, pero sin éxito. Regresó, establezca Smith a trabajar en su traducción, y ha tenido que imprimir.

• Escribiente: No se ha especificado
• Cortina: No se ha especificado
• Instrumento: Spectacles
• Método: No se ha especificado

Cuenta hostil de noticias 8 December 1830

Algunos o dos años desde que el incrédulo se divirtió con el cuento de que, guiados por la inspiración, alguien había encontrado muchas planchas de oro enterradas en la tierra cerca de Palmyra, condado de Wayne, en este estado, en la que se dieron a conocer, en una lengua desconocida, (una extraña revelación se podría pensar) el todo del hombre. Este el buscador y camarada fueron habilitadas, por la agencia sobrenatural, para traducir, ya que el libro ha sido impreso y predicadores ambulantes han salido con él, para iluminar al mundo.

• Escribiente: No se ha especificado
• Cortina: No se ha especificado
• Instrumento: No se ha especificado
• Método: Agente sobrenatural

Cuenta hostil de noticias 14 December 1830

This new Gospel they say was found in Ontario co. N.Y. and was discovered by an Angel of light, appearing in a dream to a man by the name of Smith, who, as directed, went to a certain place and dug from the earth a stone box, containing plates of gold, on which this gospel was engraved in characters unknown. The said Smith though a man so illiterate that he cannot write, was, by divine inspiration, enabled to give the true interpretation, and the man who wrote from the mouth of Smith, is one of the four mentioned above.

• Escribiente: No se ha especificado
• Cortina: No se ha especificado
• Instrumento: No se ha especificado
• Método: By divine inspiration

Cuenta hostil de noticias 18 December 1830

At a recent period, an angel appeared to a poor ignorant man residing in, or near Palmyra, in Ontario county, in the State of New-York, and directed him to open the earth at a place designated, where he would find the new revelation engraved on plates of metal. In obedience to the celestial messenger, Smith repaired to the spot, and on opening the ground, discovered an oblong stone box, tightly closed with cement. He opened the sacred depository, and found enclosed a bundle of plates resembling gold, carefully united at one edge with three silver wires, so that they opened like a book. The plates were about seven inches long and six broad, and the whole pile was about seven inches long and six broad, and was about six inches deep; each plate about the thickness of tin. They were engraved in a character unintelligible to the learned men of the United States, to many of whom it is said they have been presented. The angel afterwards appeared to the three individuals, and showed them the plates. To Smith was given to transcribe the character which he was enabled to do by looking through two semitransparent stones, but as he was ignorant of the writing, Cowdry and others wrote as Smith interpreted. They say, that part of the plates escaped from them in a supernatural manner, and are again to be revealed when the events of time shall require them.

• Escribiente: Oliver Cowdery and others
• Cortina: No se ha especificado
• Instrumento: Two semitransparent stones [the Nephite interpreters?]
• Método: "by looking through two semitransparent stones"; not otherwise characterized

1831

Cuenta hostil de noticias 7 February 1831

He that touched these stones appeared unto the brother of Jared, and said: “Behold I am Jesus Christ. I am the Father and the Son.” Two of these stones were sealed up with the plates, and became the spectacles of Joseph Smith, according to a prediction uttered before Abraham was born....This prophet Smith, through his stone spectacles, wrote on the plates of Nephi, in his book of Mormon, every error and almost every truth discussed in New York for the last ten years....[it] is, without exaggeration, the meanest book in the English language: but it is a translation made through stone spectacles, in a dark room, and in the hat of the prophet Smith, from the reformed Egyptian!!!

• Escribiente: No se ha especificado
• Cortina: No se ha especificado
• Instrumento: Spectacles (two stones); "stone spectacles."
• Método: In a dark room, in the hat

Cuenta hostil de noticias 7 March1831

the surface of which was covered with hieroglyphic characters, unintelligible to Smith, the finder, who could [218] not read English. However the angel (ghost!) that discovered the plates to him, likewise informed him that he would be inspired to translate the inscriptions without looking at the plates, while an amanuensis would record his infallible reading....

• Escribiente: No se ha especificado
• Cortina: No se ha especificado
• Instrumento: No se ha especificado
• Método: Inspired; results would be "infallible"
• Plates: not necessary to look at while translating

Martin Harris (eyewitness), paraphrased in the Palmyra Reflector 19 March 1831

Harris declares, that when he acted as amanuenses, and wrote the translation, as Smith dictated, such was his fear of the Divine displeasure, that a screen (sheet) was suspended between the prophet and himself....

• Escribiente: Martin Harris
• Cortina: Present
• Instrumento: No se ha especificado
• Método: No se ha especificado

Oliver Cowdery (eyewitness), paraphrased in hostile press 9 April 1831

During the trial it was shown that the Book of Mormon was brought to light by the same magic power by which he pretended to tell fortunes, discover hidden treasures, &c. Oliver Cowdry, one of the three witnesses to the book, testified under oath, that said Smith found with the plates, from which he translated his book, two transparent stones, resembling glass, set in silver bows. That by looking through these, he was able to read in English, the formed Egyptian characters, which were engraved on the plates.

So much for the gift and power of God. by which Smith says he translate his book. Two transparent stones, undoubtedly of the same properties, and the gift of the same spirit as the one in which he looked to find his neighbor’s goods.

• Escribiente: Oliver Cowdery
• Cortina: No se ha especificado
• Instrumento: Two transparent stones with plates; distinguished from the seer stone or "peep" stone.
• Método: Looking through the stones

Cuenta hostil de noticias circa May 1831

He [Joseph] has 10 year’s translating to do; he looks in a small stone he has, and there reads the will of the Lord and writes it for the good of his fellow men.

• Escribiente: No se ha especificado
• Cortina: No se ha especificado
• Instrumento: A stone; not clear if this is translation of Book of Mormon or other revelation
• Método: No se ha especificado

Ezra Booth (non-eyewitness) 27 Oct 1831

So also in translating.—The subject stands before his eyes in print, but it matters not whether his eyes are open or shut; he can see as well one way as the other....

These treasures were discovered several years since, by means of the dark glass, the same with which Smith says he translated most of the Book of Mormon.

• Escribiente: No se ha especificado
• Cortina: No se ha especificado
• Instrumento: "dark glass" (? "peep stone" variant)
• Método: Eyes open or closed

Cuenta hostil de noticias 18 November 1831

The preacher said he [Joseph] found in the same place two stones, with which he was enabled by placing them over his eyes and putting his head in a dark corner, to decypher the hieroglyphics on the plates!

• Escribiente: No se ha especificado
• Cortina: No se ha especificado
• Instrumento: Two stones (Nephite interpreters)
• Método: Place over eyes, in the dark

1832

Nancy Towle - visiting critic 1832

He accordingly went; and was directed by the angel to a certain spot of ground, where was deposited a “Box”— [138] and in that box contained “Plates,” which resembled gold; also, a pair of “interpreters,” (as he called them,) that resembled spectacles; by looking into which, he could read a writing engraven upon the plates, though to himself, in a tongue unknown.

• Escribiente: No se ha especificado
• Cortina: No se ha especificado
• Instrumento: Pair of interpreters/spectacles
• Método: Able to read the writing engraven on plates

News report 7 Mar 1832

Smith with divine aid, was able to translate the plates...

• Escribiente: No se ha especificado
• Cortina: No se ha especificado
• Instrumento: No se ha especificado
• Método: Divine aid

News report of LDS missionary [Lyman Johnson and Arson (Orson?) Pratt] teachings 14 April 1832

God by his goodness inspired Smith himself to translate the whole.—Smith, however, not being qualified to write, employed an amanuensis, who wrote for him....

• Escribiente: Mentioned, but no individual
• Cortina: No se ha especificado
• Instrumento: No se ha especificado
• Método: Divine inspiration

Cuenta hostil de noticias 10 October 1832

A slight excavation of the earth, enabled him to arrive at this new revelation, written in mysterious characters, upon gold plates. A pair of spectacles, of strange and peculiar construction were found with the plates, to aid the optics of the prophet....

• Escribiente: No se ha especificado
• Cortina: No se ha especificado
• Instrumento: Spectacles
• Método: Divine inspiration

1833

Hostile book report 1833

he found a book with golden clasps and cover, and a pair of elegantly mounted spectacles, somewhat old-fashioned to be sure, but astonishing magnifiers, and possessing qualities which it might puzzle Sir David Brewster to explain on optical principles.

Smith had some difficulty in undoing the clasps of this precious volume, but on opening it, though his eyes were good, it appeared to contain nothing but blank paper. It then occurred to him to fit on his spectacles, when, lo! the whole volume was filled with certain figures and pothooks to him unintelligible. Delighted with his good fortune, Smith trudged home with the volume in his pocket and the spectacles on his nose, happy as bibliomaniac who has been lucky enough to purchase some rare Editio Princeps [first edition] “dog cheap” from the ignorant proprietor of an obscure book-stall. On reaching his own house, his first care was to secure his miraculous treasures from profane observation; his second, to copy out a page or two of the characters, and look about for an interpreter. His search was long fruitless, but, at length, he hit on precisely the two individuals who were qualified conjointly for the office. One of these gentlemen possessed the faculty of reading the hieroglyphics, and the other of interpreting....

• Escribiente: No se ha especificado—note that Joseph is not even said to be the translator
• Cortina: No se ha especificado
• Instrumento: Spectacles
• Método: "Translation" by others

Evening and Morning Star January 1833

It was translated by the gift and power of God, by an unlearned man, through the aid of a pair of Interpreters, or spectacles—(known, perhaps, in ancient days as Teraphim, or Urim and Thummim)....

• Escribiente: No se ha especificado
• Cortina: No se ha especificado
• Instrumento: Spectacles/Interpreters—"perhaps" the teraphim or urim and thummim [first association of the Nephite stones with the urim and thummim?]
• Método: By the gift and power of God

Joseph Smith (eyewitness) in American Revivalist and Rochester Observer - 2 Feb 1833

having been found through the ministration of an holy Angel, translated into our own language by the gift and power of God....

• Escribiente: No se ha especificado
• Cortina: No se ha especificado
• Instrumento: No se ha especificado
• Método: By the gift and power of God

Cuenta hostil de noticias 7 March 1833

the golden plates were said to be engraved in a language that none but Smith could read—and that an angel gave him a pair of spectacles which

he put in a hat and thus read and translated, while one of the witnesses wrote it down from his mouth....

• Escribiente: Multiple; later identifies "Oliver Powdery" [sic] as "the scribe."
• Cortina: No se ha especificado
• Instrumento: Spectacles
• Método: In the hat

Cuenta hostil de noticias May 1833

They have a revelation of their own, which, they affirm, was given to the people of this continent, (the Indians,) on plates, and deposited in the earth, and kept concealed in the earth of the Lord, till the fulfilment of its time, which has now been accomplished: and to prove that Joseph Smith is that wonderful prophet, to whom these marvellous plates and their profound mysteries [263] should be revealed, they recite the 29th chapter of Isaiah, saying that the prophet Smith is that unlearned man, to whom the book was given to read, and he said I cannot, for I am not learned! But this difficulty was soon removed by the spirit which came upon him, and blest him with the gift of tongues. The book then was clearly opened to his understanding, and he translated it to one of the witnesses, who wrote it in our lauguage. ^{[comprobar la ortografía]}

• Escribiente: "one of the witnesses"
• Cortina: No se ha especificado
• Instrumento: No se ha especificado
• Método: "spirit...blest him with the gift of tongues"

1834

Eber D. Howe (non-eyewitness), paraphrasing Martin Harris (eyewitness) in Mormonism Unvailed

[Martin Harris] says he wrote a considerable part of the book, as Smith dictated, and at one time the presence of the Lord was so great, that a screen was hung up between him and the Prophet; at other times the Prophet would sit in a different room, or up stairs, while the Lord was communicating to him the contents of the plates. He does not pretend that he ever saw the wonderful plates but once, although he and Smith were engaged for months in deciphering their contents.

• Escribiente: Martin Harris
• Cortina: present
• Instrumento: No se ha especificado
• Método: not specified
• Locations: Different room; Stairs
• Plates: Not present

Charles Anthon (non-eyewitness), in Mormonism Unvailed

This young man was placed behind a curtain, in the garret of a farm house, and, being thus concealed from view, put on the spectacles occasionally, or rather, looked through one of the glasses, decyphered the characters in the book, and, having committed some of them to paper, handed copies from behind the curtain, to those who stood on the outside. Not a word, however, was said about the plates having been decyphered "by the gift of God:' Every thing, in this way, was effected by the large pair of spectacles.

• Escribiente: Martin Harris
• Cortina: present
• Instrumento: Nephite interpreters ("spectacles"; "large pair of spectacles")
• Método: "looked through one of the glasses"

Isaac Hale (eyewitness), Mormonism Unvailed

I told them, that I considered the whole of it a delusion, and advised them to abandon it. The manner in which he pretended to read and interpret, was the same as when he looked for the money-diggers, with the stone in his hat, and his hat over his face, while the Book of Plates were at the same time hid in the woods!

• Escribiente: Not identified
• Cortina: Not mentioned
• Instrumento: stone
• Método: placed stone in hat

Charles Anthon paraphrasing Martin Harris (eyewitness), Mormonism Unvailed

A “gold book,” consisting of a number of plates of gold, fastened together in the shape of a book by wires of the same metal, had been dug up in the northern part of the state of New York, and along with the book an enormous pair of “gold spectacles” ! These spectacles were so large, that, if a person attempted to look through them, his two eyes would have to be turned towards one of the glasses merely, the spectacles in question being altogether too large for the breadth of the human face. Whoever examined the plates through the spectacles, was enabled not only to read them, but fully to understand their meaning. All this knowledge, however, was confined at that time to a young man, who had the trunk containing the book and spectacles in his sole possession. This young man was placed behind a curtain, in the garret of a farm [270] house, and, being thus concealed from view, put on the spectacles occasionally, or rather, looked through one of the glasses, decyphered the characters in the book, and, having committed some of them to paper, handed copies from behind the curtain, to those who stood on the outside. Not a word, however, was said about the plates having been decyphered “by the gift of God.” Every thing, in this way, was effected by the large pair of spectacles.

• Escribiente: Joseph Smith
• Cortina: Present
• Instrumento: Spectacles
• Método: Looking through spectacles, not a divine process

[Note that this comment would have derived from prior to the formal translation process, and likely reflects only Joseph's act of copying the characters so they could be taken to Harris accompanied by his interpretation.]

Mormonism Unvailed - 1834

They at the same time gave out that, along with the plates, was found a huge pair of silver spectacles, altogether too large for the present race of men, but which were to be used, nevertheless, in translating the plates. [17] The translation finally commenced. They were found to contain a language not now known upon the earth, which they termed “reformed Egyptian characters.” The plates, therefore, which had been so much talked of, were found to be of no manner of use. After all, the Lord showed and communicated to him every word and letter of the Book. Instead of looking at the characters inscribed upon the plates, the prophet was obliged to resort to the old “peep stone,” which he formerly used in money-digging. This he placed in a hat, or box, into which he also thrust his face. Through the stone he could then discover a single word at a time, which he repeated aloud to his amanuensis, who committed it to paper, when another word would immediately appear, and thus the performance continued to the end of the book.

• Escribiente: No se ha especificado
• Cortina: No se ha especificado
• Instrumento: Seer stone
• Método: Placed in hat or box
• Plates: Not looked at directly

Another account they give of the transaction, is, that it was performed with the big spectacles before mentioned, and which were in fact, the identical Urim and Thumim mentioned in Exodus 28–30, and were brought away from Jerusalem by the heroes of the book, handed down from one generation to another, and finally buried up in Ontario county, some fifteen centuries since, to enable Smith to translate the plates without looking at them !

• Escribiente: No se ha especificado
• Cortina: No se ha especificado
• Instrumento: Spectacles
• Método: No se ha especificado

But Don Quixote told his squire Sancho, that great fortune was often very near when we least expected it ; thus it was with Smith in diging after hidden treasures—the famous brass plates, the gold spectacles and the interpreting stone were found, perhaps, when he least expected it

• Escribiente: No se ha especificado
• Cortina: No se ha especificado
• Instrumento: Spectacles and stone
• Método: No se ha especificado

We are informed that Smith used a stone in a hat, for the purpose of translating the plates. The spectacles and plates were found together, but were taken from him and hid up again before he had translated one word, and he has never seen them since—this is Smith’s own story. Let us ask, what use have the plates been or the spectacles, so long as they have in no sense been used ? or what does the testimony of Martin Harris, Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer amount to?

• Escribiente: No se ha especificado
• Cortina: No se ha especificado
• Instrumento: Stone; "spectacles" not used at all
• Método: Stone in hat
• Plates: Not present

Cuenta hostil de noticias Jan 1834

But, by the special power of the Spirit, Smith was enabled to translate them.

• Escribiente: No se ha especificado
• Cortina: No se ha especificado
• Instrumento: No se ha especificado
• Método: "Special power of the Spirit"
• Plates: No se ha especificado

Cuenta hostil de noticias 4 June 1834

In the year 1828, one Joseph Smith, an illiterate young man, unable to read his own name, of Palmyra, Wayne County, New York, was reported to have found several golden plates, together with a pair of spectacles, relics of high antiquity. The spectacles were designed to aid mental vision, under rather peculiar circumstances. They were to be adjusted, and the visage thrust into a close hat. This done Smith could interpret the sacred mysteries of the plates, in which lay, by the hypothesis, in the top of the hat!

• Escribiente: No se ha especificado
• Cortina: No se ha especificado
• Instrumento: Spectacles
• Método: Spectacles in the hat
• Plates: No se ha especificado

Oliver Cowdery (eyewitness) 7 September 1834

These were days never to be forgotten—to sit under the sound of a voice dictated by the inspiration of heaven, awakened the utmost gratitude of this bosom! Day after day I continued, uninterrupted, to write from his mouth, as he translated, with the Urim and Thummim, or, as the Nephites whould have said, “Interpreters,” the history, or record, called “The book of Mormon.”

• Escribiente: No se ha especificado
• Cortina: No se ha especificado
• Instrumento: Urim and thummim ("interpreters")
• Método: No se ha especificado
• Plates: No se ha especificado

1835

Cuenta hostil de noticias - 1834/35

This famous book, which its misguided followers regard as a second Bible, or more properly as the Mohammedans do the Koran, is said to be a translation from certain brass plates, found by one Joseph Smith, in the town of Palmyra, (N. Y.) in 1826. They were enclosed in a box, which had to all appearance been used for common sized window glass. Smith pretended to interpret them, with a stone in his hat, and this hat over his face, while one Martin Harris was employed to write down the contents at his dictation.

• Escribiente: Martin Harris (later mentions Cowdery)
• Cortina: No se ha especificado
• Instrumento: Stone
• Método: Stone in the hat
• Plates: Presence not specified; plates' box implied to be of modern origin; plates said to be "brass"—this source is clearly garbling at least some of the story.

W.W. Phelps to Oliver Cowdery - Feb 1835

The first one is where you sat day after day and wrote the history of the second race that inhabited this continent, as the words were repeated to you by the Lord’s prophet, through the aid of the “Urim and Thumim,” “Nephite Interpreters,” or Divine Spectacles. I mean when you wrote the book of Mormon, containing the fulness of the gospel to the world, and the covenant to gather Israel, for the last time, as well as the history of the Indians, who, till then, had neither origin among men, not records amid the light and knowledge of the great 19th century.

• Escribiente: Oliver Cowdery
• Cortina: No se ha especificado
• Instrumento: Interpreters/Spectacles/Urim and Thummim
• Método: No se ha especificado
• Plates: No se ha especificado

Cuenta hostil de noticias 1835

Smith pretended that he had found some golden or brass plates, like the leaves of a book, hid in a box in the earth, to which he was directed by an Angel, in 1827,—that the writing on them was in the “Reformed Egyptian language,”—that he was inspired to interpret the writing, or engraving, by putting a plate in his hat, putting two smooth flat stones, which he found in the box, in the hat, and putting his face therein—that he could not write, but as he translated, one Oliver Cowdry wrote it down.

• Escribiente: Oliver Cowdery
• Cortina: No se ha especificado
• Instrumento: Two stones found with plates (interpreters?)
• Método: Stones in the hat with a plate
• Plates: In the hat