In 1835, Smith obtained ancient papyri from a traveling mummy exhibitionist named Michael Chandler. According to Smith, these papyri contained the words of “Abraham, written by his own hand.” Given that Smith regarded himself as a prophet, seer, and revelator, he “translated” these Egyptian hieroglyphics, which became known as the Book of Abraham. It was first published in 1842 and canonized as part of the Pearl of Great Price in 1880. Note that this was before anyone in America had any working knowledge of Egyptian hieroglyphics. Surely, how could the uneducated Smith come up with such a work without the aid of the Lord?
The papyri were once thought to have been destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, although they later turned up in the New York Metropolitan Museum and were given over to the LDS Church in 1967. This time, scholars knew how to translate Egyptian hieroglyphics. They studied the papyri and concluded that they were part of the Books of Breathing, a famous ancient Egyptian funerary text dated well after the time of Abraham. As it turns out, the translation does not mention anything about Abraham.
