What Was On the 116 Pages?

In studying my lesson on the story of the 116 pages, I began to grow curious about what was actually lost. I vaguely remembered having heard something about "the Book of Lehi," but I wasn't sure whether that was validated, or just speculation. In my search for answers, I found D&C 10: 44, which describes the lost pages as "only . . . a part, or an abridgment of the account of Nephi."

Mormon expands on this in Words of Mormon 1:3:

And now, I speak somewhat concerning that which I have written; for after I had made an abridgment from the plates of Nephi, down to the reign of this king Benjamin, of whom Amaleki spake, I searched among the records which had been delivered into my hands, and I found these plates, which contained this small account of the prophets, from Jacob down to the reign of this king Benjamin, and also many of the words of Nephi.

The "small account" Mormon found seems be referring to what we have now as the first part of the Book of Mormon, from 1 Nephi through Omni, and possibly a little bit into the Book of Mosiah.

So, then, the 116 pages contained an abridgement of the account of Nephi, taken from the plates of Nephi. But then, where did the rumor of the Book of Lehi come from? Was it just a logical step that Lehi, having been the prophet before Nephi, would have kept some records, which should have been the first part of the Book of Mormon, perhaps even the first 116 pages, which were lost?

As it turns out, that wasn't just a guess or some educated speculation. The Doctrine & Covenants and Church History  Seminary Manual, Lesson 12, says that "the lost document contained the translation of the book of Lehi, which was in Mormon’s abridgment of the large plates of Nephi." So, there was a Book of Lehi, and it was in the lost 116 pages as part of Mormon's abridgement of the large plates of Nephi, which, according to 1 Nephi 9:4, contained "account of the reign of the kings."

What we lost seems to have been a summary of the historical record of the people of Nephi from Lehi to King Benjamin. The good news is that that doesn't sound terribly important. History tends to be somewhat boring, and what we really need to know about Nephite history, we can pretty much gather from the resources we have. The bad news, as Elder Holland told a group of religious educators on August 9, 1994, is that "We do not know exactly what we missed in the 116 pages." There may have been snippets or insights that would have been really nice to have. Still, we can be satisfied with the records we do have, just as I am reasonably satisfied with the answers I found about what was on those 116 pages.