Copies of the first edition of Nibley's book are hard to find these days. They sell for a pretty penny, and collectors hold on to them for a long time. Deseret Book and FARMS have now released a second edition. Whether this will affect the value of the first edition is not clear to me.

The book itself, Volume 16 of "The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley," is of a larger size than other books in that series. It includes material that Dr. Nibley had taken out before the publishing of the first edition. Other minor changes have been made.

In the introduction, we learn of these modifications:

1. A return to the standard Egyptian transliteration system in rendering the texts.

2. An exhaustive checking and cross-checking of annotations and footnotes.

3. Nearly all illustrations have been re-drawn, photographs have been re-taken. (An interesting sidenote:the illustrators of the first edition included Nibley himself, his daughter Martha, and an unidentified third person. I wonder how many will be relieved that any contribution made by Martha has seemingly been purged from this volume.)

Extensive changes were also made in typesetting to accommodate the desire for easier reading and reference.

A note to me from John Gee, via Shirley Ricks at FARMS, is interesting:

For years, Nibley refused to grant permission for us to prepare a second edition of The Message of the Joseph Smith Papyri: An Egyptian Endowment. He modestly felt that his writings were not worth revising. He had begrudgingly given permission for us to publish a new edition of Abraham in Egypt, with some new materials added. We finally convinced him that Message was an important step in the chronological history of his Egyptian studies, at which point he gave us formal permission to work on it. In the library one day (around 1990), he saw John Gee, who was checking footnotes on Message. Nibley chided, "Don't waste your time doing that--just write your own."

Actually, for me one of the most interesting things about Message is that for all the ink spilled on Books of Breathings and the Joseph Smith Papyri since then, it is still the only extensive commentary on what the text means. Most of the story worth telling is in the introduction to the second edition.

Fans of Hugh Nibley will no doubt open their wallets to get this book. It's a beautifully presented volume, easy on the eyes while being heavy on the back. Detractors will likely not expend either the time or the money.

However one views Nibley's research and conclusions, there can be no doubt that he was one of the most influential writers in 20th century Mormonism. I well remember a wonderful dinner I had with him, his wife, and his daughter and son-in-law some years ago. His graciousness and warmth were so appreciated.

Will Deseret Book/FARMS update other entries in the "Collected Works" series? I don't know. Only time will tell.

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Jeff Needle
January 25, 2006