Editing Anthon Transcript (section)

{{Short description|Mormon document made by Joseph Smith}}
[[File:Caractors document, by John Whitmer - Church History Museum - 25 March 2024.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Photograph of the "Caractors" document, previously purported to be the Anthon Transcript]]

The "'''Anthon Transcript'''" (often misidentified with the "'''Caractors document'''") is a piece of paper on which [[Joseph Smith]] wrote several lines of characters. According to Smith, the characters were copied from the [[golden plates]] (the ancient record from which Smith claimed to have translated the [[Book of Mormon]]) and represent the [[reformed Egyptian]] writing that was on the plates.

In 1828, the Anton Transcript was delivered to [[Charles Anthon]], a well-known classical scholar of [[Columbia College (New York)|Columbia College]], for an expert opinion on the authenticity of the characters and the translation. Some adherents to the Book of Mormon claim that Anthon attested to the characters' authenticity in writing to [[Martin Harris (Latter Day Saints)|Martin Harris]] but then ripped up his certification after hearing the story of Smith and the plates.<ref name="JS-H">{{cite book |title=Joseph Smith – History |last=Smith Jr. |first=Joseph |author-link=Joseph Smith|publisher=[[LDS Church]] |pages=56–57 |url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/pgp/js-h/1.64-65?lang=eng |access-date=29 November 2009}}</ref> Critics of Smith claim that Anthon believed any idea of the plates containing an ancient language was a hoax all along and that Harris was being deceived.<ref>{{cite book|chapter=Chapter XVIII|chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/mormonismunvaile00howe#page/269/mode/1up |title=Mormonism Unvailed |author=E.D. Howe |author-link=E.D. Howe |year=1834 |publisher=Telegraph Press |location=Painesville, Ohio |pages=269–274}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Richard L. |last=Bushman |author-link=Richard L. Bushman |title=Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling |title-link=Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling |location=New York |publisher=Knopf |year=2005 |pages=64–65}}</ref>

[[Image:Ref. Egyptian.jpg|right|thumb|Hofmann forgery of the Anthon Transcript, LDS archives. Note the columnar arrangement and the "Mexican zodiac" described by Anthon]]
Believers claim that the incident between Harris and Anthon fulfilled a [[Bible|biblical]] [[prophecy]] made by [[Isaiah]],  as Anthon is reported to have said to Harris, through Smith's telling of events, "I cannot read a sealed book."<ref name="lds"/><ref name="DN">{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=336&dat=19830717&id=5OUOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=C4MDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5099,1126329 |title=Charles Anthon, reluctant witness |last=Smith |first=Calvin N. |date=17 July 1983 |newspaper=[[Deseret News]] |access-date=13 December 2009}} {{quote|In his 1841 letter, Anthon said that "no one until the present time has even requested from me a statement in writing."}}</ref>

In 1980, [[Mark Hofmann]] created and sold a [[Anthon Transcript forgery|forgery of the Anthon Transcript]] to leaders of [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] (LDS Church), which was revealed to be fraudulent when three Salt Lake City bombings (which Hofmann was convicted for) were investigated.