The front cover features an altered copy of the 1842 portrait of Joseph Smith, the founding prophet of Mormonism.
The 1842 portrait, now owned by the Community of Christ, is apparently the only full face image created of Joseph Smith during his lifetime.
Decades after Joseph’s death, copies of the portrait were produced by Herald Publishing House. Daguerreotypes were made from these copies. A daguerreotype of one painted copy is now in the possession of the Library of Congress. The daguerreotype is often mischaracterized as a photo of Joseph.
Joseph reportedly did not feel the painting was an accurate likeness. Modern comparison of the painting with Joseph’s death mask and skull shows that the portrait departed significantly from the bone structure of Joseph’s face. Profile portraits painted by Sutcliffe Maudsley show Joseph to have been a dignified but portly individual. Maudsley’s profiles happen to correspond closely with the profile of the death mask.
I was given an image of a painted copy that had been cherished since the late 1800s. The painting shows signs of wear, and the chin and nose were rather petite. But the face was more kindly than the original painting.
For the cover, I modified the digital copy to better match the dimensions of the death mask and skull. I also took the liberty of reflecting that Joseph was a healthy eater, as seen in the Sutcliffe Maudsley profiles.
The back cover features a detail from Martyrdom of Joseph and Hiram Smith in Carthage jail, June 27th, 1844, painted by G.W. Fasel; lithograph by Charles G. Crehen; print by Nagel & Weingaertner, N.Y., c1851. The digital copy was obtained from the Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Online Catalog, reproduction number LC-DIG-pga-02259. The Fasel painting attempted to depict the craven fiend mentioned in Lyman O. Littlefield’s corruption of William Daniels’s account of the killing of Joseph Smith.