The Pure Language Project

In the summer of 1835, Joseph Smith and his associates purchased four mummies and some papyri scrolls from Michael Chandler.¹ That summer Joseph would participate in a project that would produce a fascinating set of texts, referred to today as the Egyptian Language Documents (ELD), used and compiled mostly in Kirtland, but also consulted and expanded in Nauvoo.² These documents, which include three incomplete variants of what was called an “alphabet” as well as an incomplete “grammar,” integrated a series of characters with explanations. The grammar included combinations of the characters with passages of text that would have parallels to chapter 1 and part of chapter 2 of the Book of Abraham. Yet, even as the grammar indicates a relationship between the ELD and the later Book of Abraham, the exact nature of that relationship is unclear.³ Some have argued that “at least part...