Question: What do the Joseph Smith papyri fragments consist of?

FAIR Answers—back to home page

There are eleven fragments of the original papyrus owned by Joseph Smith. The initial labels given the fragments came from Hugh Nibley's work.

The fragments that exist and their source are described in the table below, as are other materials of interest to students of the Book of Abraham:

Fragments	Source	Comments
I (Facsimile 1) XI X Small part of IV	The Hor Breathing permit	Facsimile 3 was part of this text; the original is not extant. Sometimes called "Horus" instead of Hor.
N/A	The Hypocephalus of Sheshonk	This is Facsimile 2; the original is not extant.
II V VI VII VIII IX (Church Historian's Fragment) Most of IV	The Book of the Dead belonging to the lady Tshenmin.	Fragment IX was not in the papyri returned to the Church by the Metropolitan Museum of Art; it was discovered in the Church Archives and is sometimes called the "Church Historian's Fragment."
IIIa IIIb	The Book of the Dead belonging to the musician of Amon Re, Neferimub.	This is a single vignette, but has been cut into two pieces; hence the designation as (a) and (b) fragments.
N/A	Another copy of Book of the Dead.	Only known from characters copied into the Kirtland Egyptian Papers.

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