Winner of the 2008 J. Carl Hertzog Award for Excellence in Book Design, The Allegory of the Olive Tree is a visually exquisite rendering of a passage of ancient scripture, translated into English by 19th century American prophet Joseph Smith, Jun. It is essentially Chapter 5 of "The Book of Jacob," one of fifteen main sections of The Book of Mormon. As stated in The Book of Mormon, this allegory is the work of Zenos, a pre-diaspora prophet whose writings were historically included in the collection of Israelite prophecies. Zenos was familiar with olive husbandry and used it as a metaphor to shed light on the mixing and development of human races.

The text of The Allegory of the Olive Tree is based on the original manuscript, printer's manuscript, and first three editions of The Book of Mormon, and is discussed in detail in Royal Skousen's Analysis of Textual Variants of the Book of Mormon, Part Four (Provo, Utah: The Foundation of Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, Brigham Young University). Our thanks to Dr. Skousen—first, for his enthusiasm when he discovered our book already-in-progress, and second for readily volunteering the use of his own text and scholarship as our project evolved.

The Allegory of the Olive Tree was printed from handset type on handmade paper designed and watermarked especially for this edition. Robert Buchert sensitively decorated the text with gold leaf and delicate hand-painted illustrations. The pigments used are primarily made from precious and semi-precious stones. On standard copies, olive branches reach across both the front and back covers in bas-relief. This beautifully enlightening book is one to treasure.

Letterpress. Edition of 50. 32 pages.
Deluxe, 8 copies. Bound in leather and olive wood. Printed on handmade paper. $1450.00 plus tax and shipping. SORRY, SOLD OUT
Standard (shown in photos below), 42 copies. Hardbound. Bas-relief covers. Printed on handmade paper. $960.00 plus tax and shipping.