Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story of How More Than One Hundred Men and Women Have Recovered from Alcoholism.
New York: Works Publishing Company,1939.
Thick 8vo, viii, (2), 1-400pp. Original red cloth lettered in gilt, extensively repaired and restored, preserved in a new red cloth box. Annotated in ink and pencil in several hands at front and back (see below).
§ First edition, first printing with the final line on p.234 repeated. A fascinating copy annotated in ink and pencil front and back by about forty people, and also with notes and underlining etc. in the text in several hands. How this copy survived being passed around about 40 people who made notes front and back is confirmation of how important this book was in 1939 -- the second edition came out a year or so later (1940) and was reprinted every year thereafter. As of 2026, about 40 million copies have been sold.
A few annotations in this copy are highly evocative; one states: "In case of (an) emergency please call... so my pets could be taken care of". Another states "I'm jealous of Willie" and "Greg is giving up on me"; "Mom wanted me to kill Maxie"; "Greg criminals Kenny disobedience"" Item #127208
Price: $11,950.00