Poll & Udate
D&C Annotated with Commentary Project
For those of you who were part of my fundraiser to publish a 7-8 volume D&C Annotated with Commentary, I want to offer you an update as well as ask your preferences on my interim releases.
The Original Project - Updates
First, as a refresher since it has now been several months since the initial fundraiser, here is a quick summary of my intentions and promises:
I was trying to fundraise $15k to print and take time off of my normal work so that I could focus on this project and get it finished fairly quickly. My goal was 4-6 months full time.
If I was unable to fundraise well enough, I would speed things up as best as I could and promise the series to finish somewhere between 1-5 years depending on how much I was able to fundraise. We’re now nearing the one year mark.
The project was to include the following: (1) a clean text representing the original D&C with Joseph’s changes annotated for review and with manuscript discrepancies highlighted for easy review. That is now done and has been my biggest thrust as it happened to be the same goal as the JSV project I’m partnering with separately. Although I’ve made several edits since then, I linked the preliminary work on this site and under this section; and (2) exhaustive cross-references, handpicked and including the TPJS and JD. I finished this for D&C 76 and 42 and published those two volumes, though they are both about 1/2 the size the of final volumes I’ll be publishing as part of the fundraised project; and (3) commentary by the early brethren. Again, I’ve only finished that for D&C 76 and 42 - keep in mind, those were both very large sections of the D&C with much more commentary than other sections; and (4) uncanonized revelations treated the same way as canonized sections. I’ve completed 87 uncanonized revelations of Joseph Smith (that’s double the amount included by the recently released volume Uncanonized Revelations, by the way), though it doesn’t have cross-references and commentary. I’ll have that available for publication soon. So far, I have about that many more to release for Brigham Young through Joseph F. Smith but those are not ready for publication.
The first part of the project, while very insightful in some ways, was horribly tedious and difficult from and editing perspective. Now that that’s finished, the remaining portions of the project should be much easier produced and much faster.
The JSV project will include a study edition, hopefully to be released in about one year, which will basically be exhaustive cross-references and some helpful, historical introductory sections. Luckily, I’m doing the ground work for both projects so the cross-over is now 100% for those portions of the project. Originally, they were not that congruous, which slowed down the project but they ended up being basically the same foundational work. However, the JSV will include the Book of Mormon and Pearl of Great Price as well so that part of the scope is larger. The Lectures on Faith were part of the JSV D&C.
What’s Next? - the Poll
Apart from working on the JSV study edition (for a triple combination), I have a few other projects that I’m working on to try to pay bills while I finish this huge project. I could just work on the cross-references and release those all at once but, like the last phase, that could mean very few monthly updates and not much new information for you - and it will ultimately slow down the project because I’ll have to look up the references to find the passages I refer to rather than extracting those passages as I find them. Therefore, what I plan to do is finish certain sections and/or topics at a time so I can release interim volumes to help raise funds for the final printing costs. In other words, I’ll be releasing one section at a time like I did with D&C 76 and 42 or doing larger volumes addressing all consecration/tithing sections in the D&C or all plan of salvation passages in the D&C or all priesthood passages or similar volumes.
With that in mind, which sections of the D&C would you be most interested in me publishing first?
Substack limits my poll options so if there are other sections you’d really like to see released sooner than later, please let me know. Ultimately, I want to get this whole project finished ASAP, but releasing higher-demand sections first will likely result in more sales, which allows me to produce this project more quickly.
JSV Update and Sidebar
The JSV or Joseph Smith Version project is intended to produce a Book of Mormon, D&C, and PGP with the original text plus all of Joseph’s changes annotated as described above. The purpose is to produce a volume of scripture that all restorationists can trust and use for their daily studies while also providing modern, 1876 standard versification so the JSV can be used to easily look up references found in thousands of places in thousands of publications. All volumes will be in original, paragraph form with subtle versification. I’ll be doing a larger explanation of this project in an upcoming podcast.
JSV investors may need to supplement their initial investment into printing a leather-bound, gold-gilded edges volume on onion paper (standard scripture pages). That will be done through Pioneer Press (Kevin Kraut). If they need a supplemental investment, I’ll be announcing and heading up an Indiegogo campaign for pre-orders in the near future. IF that launches, please be aware that while these two projects cross-over at the most basic level and while I’m doing all of the editing/text-work (save independent backup editing), they are still very separate projects.
I’ll also be releasing those volumes in paperback for families unable to afford nicer versions and/or for little children growing in their stewardships. That will be done via Amazon at first. My profit margin on those will be as minimal as possible, leaving only a buffer to avoid personal losses on physical bookstore sales. I’m looking into other, independent “print on demand” options that may allow me to sell those at a better discount, but for now, Amazon will be the only supplier for cheaper versions.
Complete Teachings of Joseph Smith
Also, the JSV project is considering including my upcoming, 3,000 page volume of all of Joseph Smith’s Teachings. IF that isn’t published as part of the JSV, Kevin Kraut has agreed to make that available in a leather-bound, gold-gilded, onion paper volume as well for those of us who feel that Joseph’s teachings are generally speaking, scripture and counsel for our dispensation (with obvious exceptions, of course).
My recent “the Forgotten Teachings” represents about 1/3 of that project with another 1/3 being the original TPJS sources with TPJS changes annotated and another 1/3 being another Forgotten Teachings volume but with teachings being pulled from formal meeting minutes and publications. In the interim, I plan on releasing volumes highlighting major changes to the TPJS and an original sources version annotating the changes. Yes, I realize that the parallel version of that was recently published. That however, does not provide the foundational text for an annotated version like I’m doing with the D&C, which is my ultimate goal AND parallel versions leave all of the work on the reader so a lot of people will never read those volumes. If I do all of the work annotating the volume, hopefully, I’ll reach a broader audience who will also benefit more from the additional resources I’ll be providing.