page_title: Antonio Lebolo
section_title: Joseph Smith Papyri
hierarchical_section_title: Antonio Lebolo / Biography / Joseph Smith Papyri
caption_attribution_description: English: This photograph depicts a portion of the Joseph Smith papyri. The vignette in the center of the photograph is recognized as the source of facsimile 1 in the en:Book of Abraham, which is part of the Pearl of Great Price, a en:Mormon volume of scripture.
context_page_description: Antonio Lebolo was an Italian antiquities excavator and adventurer, best remembered for having acquired the Joseph Smith Papyri.
context_section_description: A few years later, a man named Michael H. Chandler claimed to be Lebolo's nephew and demanded Lebolo's goods in inheritance. In 1833 he obtained the inheritance and took the mummies and some accompanying papyri to the United States, selling them during his travels. In 1835, Chandler met Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, and some of his affiliates. Since Smith claimed to be able to translate Egyptian hieroglyphs, Chandler showed him the papyri. Smith purchased the mummies and papyri, and interpreted some of the writings and scenes as some life events of the two patriarchs Abraham and Joseph. The papyri were soon called the Joseph Smith Papyri and formed the core of Smith's Book of Abraham.
caption: Joseph Smith Papyrus I
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