BOK.NAM.AD2013

"A Christmas Carol" in Deseret

A copy of "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens translated into the Deseret language in an effort to encourage the learning and use of the Deseret language.

The Deseret language was an effort made by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who settled in the Salt Lake Valley to "alleviate the problem of non-communication... created by the great influx of foreign speaking Saints" who immigrated there. The general idea was to create a hieroglyphic alphabet based on English grammar where each character represented an unchanging sound. It was "developed and encouraged by the Prophet Brigham Young and a few followers," but failed to achieve permanence in the community. It eventually died off "with Brigham Young in 1877," but is still used today by some scholars of Church history (Wintersteen).
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Wintersteen, Larry Ray. A History of the Deseret Alphabet. Electronic version. Brigham Young University, 1970.

2012 AD

John H. Jenkins

19th Century

21st Century

Print

The Deseret Box See all items with this value

The Deseret Alphabet Classics See all items with this value

History of Writing Collection See all items with this value

Deseret

Deseret alphabet See all items with this value

Novel

Jenkins, John H. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens written in Deseret. Lexington: 2013.