Journal of Discourses 6 vol. Set 3/4 Leather Bound
It served as the printed word of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, particularly for members who had no access to the Salt Lake City Deseret News. While the Journal most often published sermons of Church leaders, these speeches were not always considered to be official statements of doctrine. Many different kinds of speeches were printed, including the prayer given at the laying of a cornerstone of the Salt Lake Temple, a report of a high council court decision, a funeral sermon, and a plea for the defendant and the charge to the jury in a murder trial.
In all, the collected Journal of Discourses contains 1,438 speeches given by fifty-five people, including Presidents of the Church, members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, members of the seventy, and sixteen other speakers. Brigham Young gave 390; John Taylor, 162; Orson Pratt, 127; Heber C.
Kimball, 113; and George Q. Twenty-one people gave a single speech, and the rest gave from 2 to 66 speeches.The semimonthly issues have been bound into twenty-six annual volumes and are currently available in a lithograph reprinting of the original edition. Stories have it that the publisher died before the rest of the volumes in the 3/4 leather bound set was complete.