The first paragraph of the Introductory Note in the LDS Church edition of the Pearl of Great Price states: "The Pearl of Great Price is a selection of choice materials touching many significant aspects of the faith and doctrine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The Pearl of Great Price contains documents that have had a large impact on the beliefs, teachings, and theology of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The Book of Abraham is an 1835 work produced by Joseph Smith[3] who said it was based on Egyptian papyri purchased from a traveling mummy exhibition.

[3] Thus, it forms a doctrinal foundation for the LDS Church and Mormon fundamentalist denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement.

Other sects in the Latter Day Saint movement have various opinions regarding the Book of Abraham, with some rejecting and some accepting the text as inspired scripture.

Upon examination by professional Mormon and non-Mormon Egyptologists, these fragments were found to bear no resemblance to Smith's interpretation, and were identified as common Egyptian funerary texts, dating to about the first century BC.

As a result, the Book of Abraham has been the source of significant controversy, with criticism from Egyptologists and Mormon apologists defending its authenticity.

[5] The Articles of Faith are a creed composed by Joseph Smith as part of an 1842 letter sent to "Long" John Wentworth, editor of the Chicago Democrat, and first published in the Latter Day Saint newspaper Times and Seasons.

It contained the following entries (the placement of the text in today's LDS Church publications is noted in parentheses): The second edition of the Pearl of Great Price was prepared by Orson Pratt, with a committee finalizing preparations for publication consisting of Franklin D. Richards, Albert Carrington, Brigham Young Jr., and George Q.

[1]: 21  This edition added portions of the Joseph Smith Translation to the Book of Moses that Richards did not have access to in 1851, drawing on the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints publication of the Inspired Version of the Holy Scriptures.

[7] James E. Talmage continued to work on making improvements to the Pearl of Great Price, adding an index and putting the text in the double-column format in a 1921 edition.