Because non-Mormons are not allowed inside Latter-day Saint Temples, curiosity seeders have tried through a variety of means, specially upon completion of the Salt Lake City edifice in 1893 to ascertain what the interior looks like and what activities transpire therein. This inordinate interest prompted church leaders to commission Professor James E. Talmage in 1911, three months before he was ordained an apostle, to compile a visual and textual representation for the general public. Despite an earlier unauthorized foray into the temple by a camera-toting intruder, Talmage s assignment would represent the first time the good quality views of the interior would be framed and the ordinances would be discussed in print with the church s blessing.
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Originally commissioned by the First Presidency in 1911 to stave off a blackmailing attempt, this book has generated intense interest ever since. The blackmailers were trying to sell ill-gotten pictures of the inside of the Salt Lake Temple. The Church refused to pay off the blackmailers and instead told the press they would release a book containing better pictures along with a commentary to explain them. James E. Talmage was chosen to write and oversee the book three months before he was called into the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. One year later, on Sept. 30, 1912, the book was printed. Bookcraft republished the book in 1962 after it had been out of print for many years. The book publisher said it had received more requests for the out-of-print book than any other book. Deseret Book also republished it in 1968. Both reprints had several revisions to the original version. This reprint by Signature is a larger version of the original 1912 first edition, with the addition of a foreword by Howard Heath, who explains the history of the book and gives a biographical sketch of Elder Talmage's life. There is also an appendix by John Widtsoe, written in 1921, which gives further details about temple worship. In the Talmage text, he discusses the history of temple worship, why we need temples today, modern temple ordinances and includes several chapters detailing the specific dimensions of the interior and exterior of the Salt Lake Temple. There are 80 black and white photos of rooms in the temple, including pictures and description of the "Holy of Holies" room. These photos were left out of the other reprints of this book. The pictures in the book are fascinating, not because they reveal anything secret, but because they show the changes from 1912 until now. I imagined the 1912 pictures would show an elegance and grandeur of the late 1800s time period, which would make our updated temple pale in comparison. I was very mistaken; in fact, the furnishings and curtains make it look simple and not very fancy at all compared to the temple today. Some of that may be because the pictures are black and white and some quality is lacking in several of them. It was neat to see pictures of places in the temple that a patron would not normally see, like the council room for the First Presidency and the Twelve Apostles and the main assembly room on the fourth floor. If you are looking for a book that shows the temple ordinance rooms to share with your family along with details about temple ordinance work, this book is not the one you want. The Church has current pictures of those rooms, along with more specific details to ordinance work than is included in this book. But as a visual history of the Salt Lake Temple, with insights and commentary from scholar and Apostle Talmage, it is quite a treasure. --The Latter-day Messenger
From the Publisher
This book contains the Text from the First Edition as well as all of the photos. Later editions edited the text, and photographs were removed. One edition was published without any photographs at all. This is a wonderful gift quality edition.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent discussion of LDS beliefs from a leader.,
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This review is from: The House of the Lord: A Study of Holy Sanctuaries, Ancient and Modern (Hardcover)
This book is a wonderful well written account on what Mormons believe about temple worship past and present. James Talmage was an Apostle in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the early twentieth century. Good for members preparing to enter the temple.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent!,
By Queen Bee (Utah) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The House of the Lord: A Study of Holy Sanctuaries, Ancient and Modern (Hardcover)
An excellent book for those preparing to enter the temple, and for those who have already been.
Written within the walls of the Salt Lake Temple by one of the greatest LDS scholars, this book is a must-read! This edition is a reprint of the original and it includes interesting early b/w photos of the interior of the Salt Lake Temple.
2.0 out of 5 stars
Expected more...,
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This review is from: The House of the Lord; A Study of Holy Sanctuaries, Ancient and Modern (Paperback)
I was excited to read this book, but I immediately sent it back to Amazon. I had seen it before a long time ago and it interested me. I love Talmage. However, I was not impressed with this publisher's (General Books LLC) edition. It was a very bland format. After the title page it states that the book was reproduced by scanning the original and digitally reproducing it using OCR software. The book was littered with typos galore, especially the last 10-15 pages. Very irritating. None of the pictures of temples that are of utmost interest are included in this version either.
According to General Books' FAQ page "The book descriptions we ask booksellers to display prominently warn that our books contain numerous typos," and "The book descriptions we ask booksellers to display prominently warn that our books are not illustrated." Apparently Amazon didn't get this memo for I had no clue to the lesser quality of the product I was purchasing. Definitely not worth the $$. Try a different publisher.
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