The history department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has announced the acquisition within the past two months of yet more fragments from the original manuscript of the Book of Mormon.

The Book of Mormon printer’s manuscript has been published virtually in its entirety, but what LDS historians consider the “crown jewel” of the book’s origin — the original manuscript handwritten as Joseph Smith dictated to scribes his translation of the Nephite record preserved on gold plates — exists only in fragmentary form.

Church leaders recently surprised the Church's only branch in Nepal with copies of the first Nepali translation of the Book of Mormon.

Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles brought the books with Elder Randy D. Funk, a General Authority Seventy and the Asia Area president, and President Kirt Hodges, president of the India New Delhi Mission. They shared their experience during an interview after a district conference in New Dehli a few days later.