The Pearl of Great Price Gems is published with the primary goal of identifying, separating, highlighting and entitling the individual Gems of truth, wisdom, history and doctrine found in The Pearl of Great Price as though they had been buried in a vast field of text for centuries, found, polished and now presented. The text of The Pearl of Great Price Gems is itself identical to that of The Pearl of Great Price authorized and published by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The following introduction of The Pearl of Great Price Gems, and is taken from the more extensive and detailed introduction of the 1981 Church-authorized publication.
The Pearl of Great Price Gems contains choice materials regarding many significant aspects of faith and doctrine of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The contents were brought forth through the Prophet Joseph Smith and were originally published in the Church periodicals of his day.
The earliest collection of contents carrying the name Pearl of Great Price was in 1851 through the efforts of Franklin D. Richards, then an apostle and president of the British Mission. With a growing need to make the book's important contents more readily accessible in Europe as well as in America, it was made a standard work of the Church by action of the First Presidency and the general conference in Salt Lake City on October 10, 1880. Arrangement of contents into chapters and verses, with footnotes, was done in 1902, and arrangement of double-column pages, with index, in the Church authorized publication, was made in 1921.
Following is a Brief Outline of the Book's Contents:
Selections from the Book of Moses. An extract from the book of Genesis of Joseph Smith's Translation of the Bible, which he began in 1830. See History of the Church, vol. 1, pp. 98-101, 131-139,
The Book of Abraham. A translation from some Egyptian papyri that came into the hands of Joseph Smith in 1835, containing writings of the patriarch Abraham. The translation was published serially in the Times and Seasons, beginning March 1, 1842, at Nauvoo, Illinois. See History of the Church, vol. 4, pp. 519-534.
Joseph Smith-Matthew. An extract from the testimony of Matthew in Joseph Smith's Translation of the Bible. See Doctrine and Covenants 45:60-61 for the divine injunction to begin the translation of the New Testament.
Joseph Smith-History. Excerpts from Joseph Smith's official testimony and history, which he prepared in 1838, and which was published serially in the Times and Seasons in Nauvoo, Illinois, beginning on March 15, 1842. See History of the Church, vol. 1, pp. 1-44, for the complete account.
The Articles of Faith of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A statement by Joseph Smith of the distinguishing beliefs of the Church published in the Times and Seasons March 1, 1842, in company with a short history of the Church. The document was popularly known as the Wentworth Letter. See History of the Church, vol. 4, pp. 535-541.