LDS Church Announces New Publishing Imprint
by Jana Riess, Religion BookLine -- Publishers Weekly, 2/27/2008
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced Monday (Feb. 25) it will create a new imprint dedicated to publishing books about early Mormon history. The first project of Church Historian's Press is a major scholarly effort to publish all of the known personal papers, correspondence, journals and other primary sources of Mormonism's founding leader, Joseph Smith, Jr. The first of an estimated 25-30 volumes in The Joseph Smith Papers series will release in October or November, to be followed by two to three installments a year for the next 12 to 15 years.
According to Elder Marlin K. Jensen, church historian, initial print runs for the hardback books will be "in the neighborhood of 20,000 copies for each volume," with the primary audience being "scholars and curious students of Latter-day Saint history." The project has been in the works for more than five years, but the idea of creating a new imprint arose within the last year and a half.
Prior to the press's creation, the LDS Church was in discussions with several university presses, most seriously with Oxford, about collaborating on the publication of the Joseph Smith papers. The Church decided last year to create its own press, partly because of a desire to retain editorial control, and partly in recognition of the economic challenges of long-term documentary publishing. Jensen conceded that Church Historian's Press "doesn't have the reputation or the cachet of an Oxford University Press," but said that "over time, if we do our work well, it will have. It will provide an authoritative voice speaking for church history and a way to address questions about Mormon history more officially and authoritatively." Though the press has its hands full with the Joseph Smith papers and is not accepting manuscript submissions, Jensen says that in time he hopes to selectively publish secondary works on Mormon history.
In a related development, a five-story, 230,000-square-foot library, which will be open to the public, is being constructed in downtown Salt Lake City. The new Church History Library is scheduled to open in spring 2009 and will house more than 240,000 unpublished records and primary sources on Mormon history, as well as 270,000 books, pamphlets and periodicals. It will also house the offices of Church Historian's Press.
