Book of Abraham

The Book of Abraham is a scriptural text for some denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement. Joseph Smith, Jr., the movement's founder, stated that it was "a translation of some ancient records....purporting to be the writings of Abraham, while he was in Egypt, called the Book of Abraham, written by his own hand, upon papyrus". The work was first published serially in 1842 in the Latter Day Saint movement newspaper Times and Seasons together with facsimiles of vignettes from the papyrus and Smith's explanations of them. In 1851, it was republished in England as part of the Pearl of Great Price, and was added to the canon of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1880. For many years the original papyri were thought to have been lost. In 1966 ten fragments were found in the archives of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Subsequently, an additional fragment was located in the LDS Church Historian's Office. They are now referred to as the Joseph Smith Papyri.... full article at wikipedia