The book was pre-ordered in March and purchased through Benchmark Books April 24, 2006. The book arrived by Media Mail to Honolulu, Hawaii Thursday, May 11, 2006 12:30PM. I received copy 127 of the 175 numbered copies and the 201 numbered and lettered copies of the book.

Thanks to the advice of Mormon-Library list member Tom Kimball of Signature books and the kindness of Mormon-Library list member Curt Bench of Benchmark Books, I was able to receive a copy of this book which was sold out prior to its release by the distributor. Benchmark shipped promptly and their packing for shipment was flawless. The book came in a medium duty cardboard box wrapped in acid free paper with cardboard backing, peanuts, and airbag protection. As a result of careful packing and luck with the U.S. Postal service the book arrived in perfect condition.

One surprise was to read that 26 copies of the book "marked A through Z, the latter, each of which is signed by the compiler and contains a special suite of illustrations, are published hors commerce and are reserved for use by the publisher."

Perhaps Tom Kimball will tell the Mormon-Library list what those illustrations are in the Lettered copies of the Book. I assume the illustrations in the "special suite" consist of facsimiles of the documents from which the book was compiled. Perhaps the illustrations also include photos of some of the persons named in these documents. Perhaps they include an illustration of the Nauvoo Temple and Lisle Brown's Schematic Layout of the Architecture of the attic space in which Endowments, Sealings, Second Anointings, and Adoptions were performed?

The book I have is roughly 8.5" by 11" by 1.75" in size. It's black with gold titles on its spine and front cover. It was "designed and typeset by Connie Disney in Bembo... it was printed by Artistic Printing on Accent Opaque Vellum, and acid free archival quality paper, Copies 1 through 175 were Smythe sewn and bound in Arrestox Linen by Roswell Book Binding; Copies A through Z were hand-sewn and hand-bound by JML Books." [from the Last Printed page].

A preliminary review of the contents of the book show that the compiler has largely lived up to his claim that the book is a "Comprehensive Register of Persons Receiving LDS Temple ordinances, 1841-1846." I suggest that a caveat should have been posted near the title page to the effect that the compilation from existing Records is claimed to be comprehensive whereas it is not certain (or likely) that the book includes all the LDS temple ordinances performed during that time period.

Why do I say this. There seems to be some ordinances that are known by family tradition and journal accounts that are not included in this "comprehensive register." For example there is no mention of a record of the Adoption of Brigham Young to Joseph Smith Jr. The only adoption to Joseph Smith Jr. mentioned is John Bernhisel. Yet I know from family tradition and a journal account (which I am trying to locate again) that Brigham Young was sealed by the law of adoption to Joseph Smith Jr. and that he was designated as an heir to Joseph's blessings. In addition the endowments and Second Anointings performed in private homes after 1841 but before the Martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph are not mentioned except peripherally in footnotes.

Otherwise the book represents a great leap forward in gathering all these records into one place.

On the question of how to present pre-dedication ordinances, I suggest they should appear on the face of the record. Brown does mention in footnotes the dates when certain persons were admitted to the anointed quorum, but no mention is made that the Endowment was the initiation to the anointed quorum. Marriage Sealings and Second Anointings given prior to the dedication of the Nauvoo Temple are also listed in footnotes to the repeated ordinances performed in the Nauvoo Temple. For example, Brigham Young's and Reynolds Cahoon's pre-Nauvoo Temple 2nd Anointings are mentioned in note 17 page 348 (Young) and in note 7 page 47 (Cahoon). I suggest that listing the original ordinances as part of the larger record might have added value to the compilation. On the other hand the book is held out as a compilation of Nauvoo Temple ordinances--strictly speaking pre-dedication ordinance work should not be part of the Nauvoo temple record.

Lisle Brown's footnoting of the compilation with one or two exceptions appears adequate and well researched. His notation of the members of the Nauvoo Female Relief Society receiving ordinances shows that the Prophet Joseph's promise to bestow the keys of the priesthood to the members of this society [in connection with their husbands] was largely fulfilled by the endowments, sealing in marriage, and second anointing of many of these sisters.

I discovered one case where Brown's footnotes are inaccurate in that they contain a presumption not justified by the records. Brown surmises that Rebecca Greenleaf Holman who was sealed to Brigham Young must have been civilly married to a man named Holman because her maiden name was Rebecca Greenleaf? Brown's source for the maiden name of Rebecca Holman being Rebecca Greenleaf or Rebecca Whitcomb Greenleaf or Rebecca Greenleaf Robinson is apparently the Susan Easton Black compilation of early membership records.

Although Brown may claim that he is only repeating his sources, as a compiler Brown is inconsistent in that on page 352 he gives the Birth date for Rebecca Greenleaf Robinson as 20 Feb 1824 [agrees with the birth date for RGH on family search.org] while in footnote 98 on the same page he states:

Endowed as Rebecca G. Holman (NTER) Marriage sealing as Rebecca Greenleaf Robinson (SAL). Civil marriage to Joshua Sawyer Holman about 1819-1820 (Black). Plural Marriage sealing to Brigham Young, 9 Oct 1844 (Cook). Var. spelling Rebecca Green Whitcomb (Black).

Its a good trick for Rebecca Greenleaf Holman to be married to her Father before she was born as his daughter. Apparently Brown didn't notice this inconsistency between the Birthdate given and the presumed civil marriage date of 1819-1820. Mothers and Daughters can be confused especially when they bear the same 1st name. The last name of the lady being married to Young might have been recorded in error in the Sealings and Adoptions List compiled by Joseph F. Smith.

It may come as a surprise to Patriarch Brown but family group sheets available to Brown at familysearch.org show that Rebecca Greenleaf Holman's maiden name was Rebecca Greenleaf Holman (she was a daughter of Joshua Sawyer Holman born in 1824). According to Familysearch.org it was J.S. Holman's daughter who was the Rebecca Greenleaf sealed to Brigham Young. I note that the other sons and daughters of Joshua Sawyer Holman were also given the middle family name Greenleaf including my ancestor John Greenleaf Holman. [ John Greenleaf Holman sometimes called Jonathan as a boy reportedly drove Emma Smith from Farwest, Missouri to Quincy Illinois in a wagon (according to Sam Taylor's Nightfall at Nauvoo). JGH would have been only about 11 years old at the time.]

See Family Search for the sealing of Rebecca Greenleaf Holman to Brigham Young.

This is one instance where NSAA appears not to be "comprehensive" in that it does not reflect fully the public record in familysearch.org in the case of Rebecca Greenleaf Holman. This is a forgivable oversight but it casts doubt on the author's claim that his book is a comprehensive compilation. That claim remains a target to tilt at.

There also appear to be at least one person missed in the indexing of the book. For example my ancestor Rebecca Whitcomb Holman does not appear in the index of wives starting on page 373 though she appears in the text along with her husband Joshua Sawyer Holman.

As mentioned previously Brown fails to note that Brigham Young, Reynolds Cahoon, and others in the anointed quorum received their endowments and second anointings previous to the martyrdom of the prophet Joseph. It might have been nice if Brown had included a detailed listing of the endowments and second anointings performed for the anointed quorum prior to the martyrdom. Inclusion of this information would have made the book more comprehensive. Fortunately a record of these ordinances is available conveniently in the multivolume Wilford Woodruff Journal published by Signature (included conveniently in the New Mormon Scholars CDROM).

Otherwise my congratulations to Lisle Brown, the Smith-Pettit Foundation, and distributor Signature on this excellent contribution to the literature. I hope at least one or two copies of his work find their way into libraries where they will be publicly accessible.

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Randall Larsen
May 13, 2006