This is an open canon of revelations of God to Joseph Smith, other contemporary church leaders, and succeeding leaders. The first attempt to publish the early revelations in book form was begun in 1831. Before the work could be completed, a mob destroyed the press in 1833, and pages of the book reproduced in print up to that point were scattered throughout the streets. The revelations were eventually printed. Additional revelations have been added since then on a somewhat regular basis – particularly in the RLDS editions.
The LDS (Salt Lake City, Utah) and the RLDS (Independence, Missouri) editions have basically the same revelations up to 1844, but with a few notable exceptions. However, the numbering of the revelations (or sections) varies between them. The RLDS edition being reviewed has 150 sections (revelations and documents), with a few being assigned to the Appendix. Several sections have been added since. The Doctrine and Covenants is considered canon in the churches that use this book.
