Continuing from the previous post on Book of Mormon Grammar.
Finally, in the 1800s, the colon served as a period and a comma; the
half stop (comma) and the full stop (period) were not finalized until the
nineteenth century; the semicolon was first introduced in 1515, but changed
about every century and did not fully catch on until after Lord Byron and Jane
Austen, who used it haphazardly in the early 1800s, and not until 1893 was it
finalized, though Mark Twain, who professed his dislike of the semicolon, used
1,562 in the Gutenberg Project edition of his 1884 work.
Old Horace Hart’s rules of 24 pages of grammar usage was first
published in 1893 (left), but New Hart’s Rules covered more than 400
pages, and was revised almost every year until the 39th edition in
1983. It did not, however, become the source of authoritative grammar,
punctuation and usage until 1904 (Called the Oxford Dictionary for Writers and
Editors 2000; New Harts’ Rules 2005; New Oxford Style Manual 2012, which had become
a single volume of 1033 pages in 2003. From Oxford, The King’s English,
a book of English usage and grammar was not published until 1906, including
vocabulary, syntax, and punctuation, covering extensively such areas as the
proper use of “shall” and “will.” It’s last printing was 1931, at which time
the Modern English Usage work had superseded it in popularity. The
acceptable Received Pronunciation of English was not developed until
1869; the Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary was not published
until 1917; and the A Concise Pronouncing Dictionary of American and British
English was not published until 1970; and the American MLA Handbook for
Writers of Research Papers was not published until 1977.
The point being that in 1830, when the Book of Mormon was first
published, the rules of grammar were often little more than a scattering of
opinions, often in conflict from one group to another, with no official single
set of standards to be applied. The word “good” as an example has been spelled
in more than a dozen different ways, with many more from Scottish usage. It was
not until the spelling reform movement was at its height between 1880 and 1910
that dictionaries included the new reforms and set down much of the spelling we
know today.
The main collections of the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (left),
edited in Germany and Austria, did not start its main collecitons in 1883,
ending in 1900. Most countries have developed their own special language
dictionaries, but not one was begun before 1882 (Dutch) and 1898 (Swedish),
with the rest begun after 1900, many in the middle of the century.
Some writers used a plethora of punctuation, while others used punctuation sparingly--there was no right or wrong way to use it, anymore than there was a right or wrong way of spelling a word through most of the 19th century. In fact, Shakespeare himself spelled his own name Shakespeare, Shakespere, and Shaksper, and was pronounced several different ways during the Elizabethan era, including "Shack-spear." Christopher Marlowe was baptized Marlow, while he spelled his own name Marley, and the theatrical entrepreneur we know as Phillip Henslowe was spelled Henslowe or Hinsley, Henslow and Hinshleyhe in a single document in 1587.
59 words in 2 sentences: 5 commas, 2 semi-colons, 3
colons, 1 period, 1 question mark
Shakespeare’s punctuation differed from Ben Johnson, Christopher
Marlowe, and Richard Burbage, who all differed from Geoffrey Chaucer and
William Caxton. Charles Dickens and George Eliot wrote differently than Samuel
Coleridge and Sir Walter Scott.
Take the word "thought," which has been spelled variously over time as "þoht, ðoght, þou?te, thowgth, thouch, thotht, thoughte, and thowcht," and not finalized until Joseph Smith's time in the early nineteenth century with "th" and "gh" by Webster in his 1828 dictionary. Or the word "Wednesday," which has gone through various spellings--wodnesdaeg, Weodnesdei, Wenysday, wonysday, Weddinsday--but even though Shakespeare tried to match pronunciation with his very reasonable "Wensday," it didn't stick. Or "jeopardy," which became "lupartye, ieoperde, and yeopardie," before settling on its current spelling in the nineteenth century. And "island" which came from the Old English "iglund," and was spelled various "illond, ylonde, or ilande," until someone took an "s" from Latin insula and stuck it where it had never been meant to be--in 1828, it was not even considered a word in New England, where "isle" was used.
Before leaving this, let us deal with one more type of question and
comment that is also often raised regarding the copyright of the Book of
Mormon, and thus Joseph Smith’s name appearing on the original cover page as
the author.
First of all nineteenth-century authors who wanted to control the profits and
distribution of their literary work, as well as protect the contents from copy
and illegal printing, had a number of options, each centered on the
relationship between the author or proprietor and the printer, bookseller, or
publisher. Two options did not include obtaining a copyright: an older style of
print negotiations had the author obtain funds from a patron or a group of
subscribers to pay a printer, who would then negotiate with the author on how
to distribute the profits; alternatively, and more common in 1829, authors
could negotiate with printers for half of the profits and avoid the necessity
of outside funds. In the United States, federal copyright law was in force by
1790, and copyrighted books offered more security to both the printer and the
author by protecting the text from unauthorized sale and distribution. An author with a federal copyright could
permanently sell the rights to publish a manuscript or do so only temporarily
or for a specified number of editions. The author could also retain the rights
and negotiate separately with a printer for publication. In such cases, the
copyright reassured a printer that the work would not be undercut by
unauthorized editions.
The federal copyright
statute of 1790, as amended in 1802, outlined five steps to obtaining a
copyright: the applicant was to deposit a copy of a work’s title page with the
clerk of the federal district court, pay for the copyright certificate, publish
the certificate in the newspaper in four consecutive weeks over the next two
months, print the certificate in the book, and provide a copy of the book to
the U.S. Secretary of State within six months of its publication.
The copyright record
presented and printed in the 1830 edition was from Joseph Smith’s compliance
with the requirements. It is printed form prepared by Richard R. Lansing, the
clerk of the United States District Court for the Northern District of New
York, who signed and dated it. The author could request extra copies of the
record for sixty cents, but only the recipient’s copy, and the
court’s copy are extant. As required by the law, the submission for the Book of
Mormon copyright included a printed copy of the Book of Mormon title page, a
document still retained along with the court’s copyright record. In the second printing, Joseph Smith's name as author was changed to "translated by Joseph Smit, Jr."
Printers in the area
had little or no experience printing books that were as large and as expensive
as the Book of Mormon. The copyright decreased the financial risk of publishing
the book and therefore gave Joseph Smith additional power to negotiate with
potential printers. Joseph Smith’s early efforts to find a printer were
apparently conducted in and around Palmyra, where E. B. Grandin originally
rejected his proposal, likely fearing that the book would not be profitable.
Joseph Smith’s lack of a copyright during those early negotiations may also
have made Grandin hesitant, since only a copyright would have protected his
interests by prohibiting competing presses from producing the same book. After
unsuccessful attempts in Palmyra, Joseph Smith and Martin Harris solicited
printers in Rochester, New York. There, Thurlow Weed appears also to have
rejected the proposal, even though Harris offered his farm as payment, but then
Joseph Smith met success: his proposal was accepted by printer Elihu F.
Marshall. Joseph Smith returned to Palmyra with Marshall’s offer, and this time
he successfully negotiated with Grandin.
After the agreement
was in place, Joseph Smith returned to his home in Harmony, Pennsylvania. He
did not sell his copyright to Grandin or negotiate an arrangement to share the
profits from the book’s sale, nor did he need to once Harris had agreed to be
the financier. John H. Gilbert, the typesetter of the Book of Mormon, estimated
the cost for printing five thousand books at $3,000, a figure that included a
profit for Grandin. If enough books sold, Harris could recoup what he had
provided by mortgaging part of his farm for $3,000, and Joseph Smith might even
make a profit.
Copyright Statement:
“Be it remembered, That on the Eleventh day of June in the fifty third year of the
Independence of the United States of America, A. D. 1829 Joseph Smith Junior of
the said District, hath deposited in this Office the title of a book the right
whereof he claims as author in the words following, to wit: The Book of
Mormon; an account written by the hand of Mormon upon plates taken from
the plates of Nephi. Wherefore it is an abridgement of the record of the
people of Nephi and also of the Lamanites.”
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment