21/22 September 1823

First visit by Moroni.

21/22 September 1827

Joseph Smith receives the plates.

circa December 1827

Joseph and Emma travel from Palmyra, New York, to Harmony, Pennsylvania; Joseph begins translating, with Emma and possibly Reuben Hale as scribes.

February 1828

Martin Harris takes a transcript of characters copied from the plates to Charles Anthon and other eastern scholars.

April—June 1828

Martin serves as scribe.

July 1828

Martin loses the 116 pages; Joseph is temporarily denied the ability to translate.

circa February—March 1829

A few pages are translated; Emma and Samuel Smith possibly serve as scribes.

5 April 1829

Oliver Cowdery arrives in Harmony and begins serving as scribe two days later.

circa 4 June 1829

Joseph, Oliver, and David Whitmer arrive at the Whitmer farm in Fayette, New York, where the translation is completed.

11 June 1829

Joseph obtains the copyright.

latter part of June 1829

In Fayette, Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and Martin Harris are shown the plates and other artifacts by Moroni; a few days later, the Eight Witnesses see and handle the plates in Manchester.

26 June 1829

In the first newspaper article mentioning the Book of Mormon, the Wayne Sentinel comments on the book's origins and publishes the title page.

1 July 1829

The translation is completed by this date.

July—August 1829

Thurlow Weed, owner-editor of the Rochester Telegraph, twice declines to print the book; Oliver Cowdery begins copying the printer's manuscript, completing this task by February 1830.

August 1829

Martin Harris mortgages his farm; E. B. Grandin (who had previously declined) agrees to publish the Book of Mormon in Palmyra, New York; Hyrum Smith delivers the first manuscript installment of 24 pages; typesetting begins.

Fall 1829

Joseph returns to Harmony; Hyrum, Martin, and Oliver continue to deliver manuscript installments to printer and check proofs. Solomon Chamberlain becomes convinced of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, obtains proof sheets of four sixteen-page signatures, and goes on a mission to Upper Canada.

January 1830

Abner Cole, editor of The Reflector (Palmyra, NY), illegally prints excerpts from 1 Nephi and Alma, finally desisting after he is confronted by Joseph.

circa January 1830

Joseph Smith apparently sends Oliver Cowdery and Hiram Page—and possibly Joseph Knight and Josiah Stowell—to Kingston, Ontario, Canada, to try to sell the Book of Mormon copyright.

March 1830

First printing (5,000 copies) begins; the book is offered for sale on 26 March.

6 April 1830

The Church of Christ is organized.

July 1830

Samuel Smith leaves a copy of the Book of Mormon with Rhoda Young Greene, sister of Brigham Young.

September 1830

Parley P. Pratt is baptized after reading a borrowed copy of the Book of Mormon.

April 1831

Martin Harris sells his farm to cover the Book of Mormon debt.

1837

Second edition (either 3,000 or 5,000 copies) published at Kirtland, Ohio.

1840

Third edition and first stereotyped edition (2,000 copies) published in Nauvoo, Illinois (and printed in Cincinnati), under the direction of Ebenezer Robinson.

1841

First British edition (4,050 copies) published in Liverpool, England, under the direction of Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and Parley P. Pratt.

1841

Original manuscript deposited in the cornerstone of Nauvoo House.

1842

New impression printed in Nauvoo, using the same stereotype plates as the third edition. (The title page was reset, however, with the "Jr." being dropped from Joseph Smith's name because his father had died.)

1849

Second British edition published in England under the direction of Orson Pratt.

1852

Third British edition, which included the first use of numbered paragraphs, published in England under the direction of Franklin D. Richards.

1858

Private edition published in New York City by James O. Wright.

1869

Deseret Alphabet edition published in New York City.

1874

First RLDS edition published in Plano, Illinois.

1879

Major edition published in Salt Lake City under the direction of a committee probably headed by James E. Talmage, with introductory material and chapter summaries; this was the first LDS edition in double columns.

1888

First large-print LDS edition published in Salt Lake City by the Juvenile Instructor.

1892

RLDS large-print LDS edition (second RLDS edition) published in Lamoni, Iowa; this was the first double-column edition.

1902

Missionary edition published in Kansas City, Missouri.

1907

Vest-pocket edition published in Salt Lake City by the Deseret Sunday School Union.

1908

Third RLDS edition published in Lamoni, Iowa, with numerous corrections based on the printer's manuscript.

circa 1911

Large-print edition published in Chicago.

1920

Major edition published in Salt Lake City under the direction of a committee probably headed by James E. Talmage, with introductory material and chapter summaries; this was the first LDS edition in double columns.

1936

English-Braille translation (seven volumes) published in Louisville, Kentucky (updated in 1994).

1953

Current RLDS (now Community of Christ) edition published in Independence, Missouri.

1981

Major edition published in Salt Lake City under the direction of a committee headed by members of the Quorum of the Twelve, with corrections, new introductory material, new chapter summaries, and new footnotes.

1982

Subtitle "Another Testament of Jesus Christ" added to cover and half-title page (but not to the title page itself).

1984—86

FARMS produces the first critical text under direction of Robert Smith.

1988

Supported by FARMS, Royal Skousen begins work on a comprehensive critical text project.

2000

One hundred millionth copy of the Book of Mormon is printed.

2001

FARMS publishes the first two volumes in Royal Skousen's critical text project, a one-part typographical facsimile of the extant text of the original manuscript and a two-part typographical facsimile of the printer's manuscript.

2003

University of Illinois Press publishes reader's edition, edited by Grant Hardy, which reformats the 1920 text in the manner of modern translations of the Bible.

2004

By arrangement with the Church, Doubleday publishes the first official trade edition, which duplicates the 1982 version.

2004

FARMS publishes Part One (title page, witness statements, 1 Nephi — 2 Nephi 10) of the fourth volume of Skousen's critical text project, Analysis of Textual Variants in the Book of Mormon.

2005

FARMS publishes Part Two (2 Nephi 11 — Mosiah 16) of the fourth volume of Skousen's critical text project.

2006

FARMS publishes Part Three (Mosiah 17 — Alma 20) of the fourth volume of Skousen's critical text project.

2007

FARMS publishes Part Four (Alma 21 — Alma 55) of the fourth volume of Skousen's critical text project.

1851

Danish translation published in Copenhagen.

1852

German, French, Italian, and Welsh translations published in Hamburg, Paris,

London, and Georgetown, respectively.

1855

Hawaiian translation published in Honolulu (and printed in San Francisco).

1875

Spanish selections published in Salt Lake City (full book in 1886, updated in 1952,

1980, 1992).

1878

Swedish translation published in Copenhagen (retranslated 1985).

1889

Maori translation published in Auckland, New Zealand (reprinted in Salt Lake City in 1989).

1890

Dutch translation published in Amsterdam.

1903

Samoan translation published in Salt Lake City.

1904

Tahitian translation published in Salt Lake City.

1905

Missionary edition published in Chicago.

1906

Large-print edition published in Salt Lake City by Deseret News.

1906

Turkish selections (Armenian script) published in Boston (Roman alphabet selections updated in 1983; full book in 2001).

1909

Japanese translation published in Tokyo (updated in 1957 and 1995).

1933

Czech selections published in Prague (updated in 1980; full book in 1986).

1937

Armenian-Western translation published in Los Angeles (selections updated in 1993).

1939

Portuguese translation published in Sao Paulo, Brazil (updated in 1995).

1946

Tongan translation published in Salt Lake City.

1950

Norwegian translation published in Oslo (updated in 2002).

1954

Finnish translation published in Helsinki (updated in 2002).

1965

Rarotongan translation published in Salt Lake City.

1965

Chinese translation published in Hong Kong.

1967

Korean translation published in Seoul.

1972

Afrikaans translation published in Johannesburg, South Africa.

1976

Thai translation published in Bangkok.

1977

Indonesian translation published in Jakarta.

1977

Aymara selections published in Salt Lake City (full book in 1986).

1978

Cakchiquel selections published in Salt Lake City.

1979

Croatian translation published in Salt Lake City.

1979

Quechua-Peru selections published in Salt Lake City.

1979

Greek (Katharevusa) selections published in Salt Lake City.

1979

Hungarian selections published in Salt Lake City (full book in 1991).

1979

Kekchi selections published in Salt Lake City (full book in 1983).

1979

Quiche selections published in Salt Lake City.

1980

Bulgarian selections published in Salt Lake City (full book in 1999).

1980

Quechua-Ecuador selections published in Salt Lake City.

1980

Arabic selections published in Salt Lake City (full book in 1986).

1980

Vietnamese selections published in Salt Lake City (full book in 1982, revised in 2003).

1980

Fijian translation published in Salt Lake City.

1981

Russian and Catalan translations published in Salt Lake City and Barcelona, Spain,

respectively.

1981

Icelandic translation published in Reykjavik (updated in 2002).

1981

Niuean, Quechua-Bolivia, and Kuna selections published in Salt Lake City.

1981

Polish translation published in Salt Lake City.

1981

Romanian selections published in Salt Lake City (full book in 1998).

1982

Hindi translation published in Hong Kong.

1982

Tamil selections published in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

1982

Telugu (full book in 2000), Cambodian (full book in 2001), Laotian, Swahili (full book in 2000), and Guarani selections published in Salt Lake City.

1983

Maya, Mam, Efik, Kisii, Hmong (full book in 2000), Persian (Farsi), and Haitian

Creole (full book in 1999) selections published in Salt Lake City.

1983

Sinhala selections published in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

1983

Chinese (simplified characters) selections published in Hong Kong (full book in 2001).

1983

Greek (Demotike) selections published in Salt Lake City (full book in 1987).

1984

Marshallese selections published in Salt Lake City (full book in 2003).

1985

Bengali and Bislama selections published in New Delhi, India, and Salt Lake City,

respectively.

1986

Malagasy selections published in Salt Lake City (full book in 2000).

1987

Fante (full book in 1999), Zulu (full book in 2003), Pohnpeian, Papiamento, Trukese,

and Tagalog (full book in 1998) selections published in Salt Lake City.

1988

Fante (full book in 1999), Zulu (full book in 2003), Pohnpeian, Papiamento, Trukese,

and Tagalog (full book in 1998) selections published in Salt Lake City.

1989

Chamorro selections published in Salt Lake City.

1991

Ilokano selections published in Salt Lake City (full book in 1995).

1992

Cebuano selections published in Salt Lake City (full book in 1998).

1994

Tzotzil, Hiligaynon, and Pampango selections published in Salt Lake City.

1995

American Sign Language version made available on video tape.

1995

Spanish-Braille translation published in Salt Lake City.

1996

Waray selections published in Salt Lake City.

1997

Ukrainian translation published in Frankfurt, Germany.

1998

Bikolano selections published in Salt Lake City.

1998

Pangasinan translation published in Salt Lake City.

1999

Albanian translation published in Frankfurt, Germany.

2000

Estonian translation published in Frankfurt, Germany.

2000

Igbo, Latvian, Armenian-East, Lithuanian, Amharic, and Xhosa translations

published in Salt Lake City.

2001

Mongolian translation published in Salt Lake City.

2002

Neomelanesian and Slovenian translations published in Salt Lake City and Frankfurt,

Germany, respectively.

2003

Tswana translation published in Salt Lake City.

2004

Yapese translation published in Salt Lake City.

2005

Twi translation published in Salt Lake City.