The short answer
The men went to Kingston and came back without a sale. The surviving early text directs them to go and grants permission to sell the copyright under a condition. David Whitmer’s later story about the source of revelations raises a separate question.
- The manuscript. John Whitmer’s early copy directs the group to Kingston and makes the sale conditional on how people receive the message. Read the wording
- The trip. Hiram Page went to Kingston and recalled finding no buyer there. He mentions York, now Toronto, as another place to try. Read what Page remembered
- The reply. David Whitmer later said Joseph heard a reply naming three possible sources of revelation. Whitmer himself judged which possibilities applied. Read his account
- The money. Printing costs, an unauthorized U.S. excerpt, and the potential proceeds all matter to the story. See the publishing context
What to say
“The deal fell through. Where does the text promise it would go through? And if we’re discussing what Joseph said afterward, how much weight can Whitmer’s later account carry?”
Joseph Smith authorized an attempt to sell publishing rights to the Book of Mormon in British North America. The men came home without a deal. The CES Letter argues that the failed trip raises a bigger question about how Joseph could tell where a revelation came from. To assess that claim, read the instruction to travel, the terms of the sale, and the account of the alleged reply separately. CES Letter, “Book of Mormon Copyright Revelation”
What the revelation authorized
The only surviving copy is in John Whitmer’s handwriting, copied around March 1831 from an early 1830 revelation. It names Oliver Cowdery, Hiram Page, Joseph Knight Sr., and Josiah Stowell and directs them to Kingston. It then grants Joseph permission to sell a copyright through them for four provinces “if the People harden not their hearts.” Later editing marks cross out the reference to Kingston and the sale passage. Both are legible in the manuscript, which the Joseph Smith Papers transcribes. The text was never published in the 1833 Book of Commandments. Manuscript and editorial notes, p. 30 · Direction and sale terms, p. 31
The instruction to go was direct. The permission to sell was conditional. A reader who sees the whole trip as an implied assurance of success can still ask why God would send the men. To establish a failed prediction of a sale, that reader needs evidence that the text committed God to delivering a buyer or closing the deal. Read the sale terms
What happened in Kingston
Cowdery and Page went to Kingston. Knight and Stowell likely went too. In an 1848 letter, Page remembered that there was no buyer there, that the people they met treated them well, and that they were told the business could be done in “little York,” now Toronto. They returned without completing a sale. Page was on the trip and remembered the condition about the people’s response. His account comes 18 years later and gives no way to determine why any particular person declined or whether the stated condition was met. Joseph Smith Papers, journey to Upper Canada · Page’s letter, quoted in the historical introduction
What David Whitmer remembered
In 1887, David Whitmer wrote that he was present when the party returned. He called the destination Toronto and said Joseph, after being questioned, used a seer stone and received a reply that revelations could come from God, from people, or from the devil. Whitmer concluded that this revelation came from a human or devilish source. The reported reply itself gives three possibilities and leaves this revelation unclassified. Whitmer’s pamphlet is evidence of his recollection decades later. There is no known contemporary copy of that reply. Whitmer, An Address to All Believers in Christ, pp. 30–31
Why the copyright mattered
Joseph had applied for U.S. copyright in 1829. In January 1830, a newspaper printed part of the book without permission. Martin Harris had mortgaged property to finance the $3,000 printing, and Joseph signed an agreement letting Harris recover the costs through book sales. A deal in British North America could bring in money and give Joseph some control over publication there. The early revelation excludes Harris from a share of the venture’s financial benefits. Page remembers the money as intended for the Smith family, while Whitmer connects the plan to paying for printing. Those accounts differ about who would benefit. Historical introduction and manuscript · January 1830 agreement with Harris
How Roberts and later historians read it
In 1930, Latter-day Saint historian B. H. Roberts considered the episode as Whitmer presented it and concluded that Joseph had acted without inspiration on this occasion. In 2009, Church Historian Marlin K. Jensen pointed readers to the newly published manuscript and emphasized that the proposed sale was conditional. Their conclusions rely on different evidence. The manuscript establishes what the early text says. Page and Whitmer agree on the outcome, while their accounts of the trip and its aftermath warrant different kinds of weight. Roberts, A Comprehensive History of the Church, 1:164–65, excerpted by the Tanners · Jensen on the manuscript revelation books
What to say
“They tried to sell Canadian publishing rights and came home without a buyer. The earliest surviving text sends them to Kingston and allows the sale under a condition. I’d ask where the text promises a sale. If the concern is Joseph’s reported reply afterward, let’s read Whitmer’s recollection and distinguish what he says Joseph heard from what Whitmer himself concluded.”
