The Ultimate Complete Set of First Edition Big Books with All Original Dust Jackets
This magnificent one of a kind complete set of First Edition Big Books has never been offered for sale before. This set contains not only every printing of the first edition, which there were 16 from 1939 -1954, also included are all variations of color bringing this set to a total of 21 books with original dust jackets.
Some of the premier items in this collection are the 1st Printing featuring the Red Cloth Cover with an Original Dust Jacket, the 2nd Printing featuring the Red Cloth Cover which only a handful are known to still exist, the 3rd Printing with the Green Cover, and the 7th Printing with an Original Dust Jacket which only 3 copies are known to still exist. This set includes 21 books in total, all of them are in excellent condition and have Original Dust Jackets.
Bill Wilson and Hank Parkhurst, the two men that spearheaded the book project, wanted to sell the book for $3.50 per copy. That was a very large sum in those days, the equivalent of around $50 today, and people might not think they were getting their money’s worth. They picked the cheapest, thickest paper the printer had, and requested that each page be printed with large margins surrounding the text. This made for an unusually large book. Thus, the book came to be nicknamed the “Big Book.” The First Printing is bigger and thicker than the current Fourth Editions. With AA having very little money in 1939 and the early 1940's, they picked the cheapest materials they could use for printing the book which contributed to the various colors of first editions.
Variation of colors for each printing making 21 unique First Edition Books in this collection:
First Printing (Red), Second Printings (Light Blue, Rare Red, and Navy Blue), Third Printings (Light Blue, Olive Green, and Navy Blue), Fourth Printings (Olive Green and Navy Blue), Fifth Printing (Light Blue), 6th – 16th Printings (Navy Blue)
A New York AA member named Ray Campbell; a recognized artist was asked to design the dust jacket. His story, An Artist’s Concept, appears in the First Edition. He submitted various designs for consideration including one which is blue and in an Art Deco style. The one which was chosen was red, and yellow, with a little black, and a little white. The words Alcoholics Anonymous were printed across the top in large white script. It became known as the circus jacket because of its loud circus colors.
Personal Stories and Authors in First Edition:
Doctor Bob’s Nightmare – Page 183 by Dr. Bob Smith
The Unbeliever – Page 194 by Hank Parkhurst
The European Drinker – Page 206 by Joe Doeppler
A Feminine Victory – Page 217 by Florence Rankin
Our Southern Friend – Page 226 by John Henry Fitzhugh Mayo
A Business Man’s Recovery – Page 242 by William Ruddell
A Different Slant – Page 252 by Harry Brick
Traveler, Editor, Scholar – Page 254 by Jim Scott
The Back-Sider – Page 265 by Walter Bray
Home Brewmeister – Page 274 by Clarence Snyder
The Seventh Month Slip – Page 282 by Ernie Galbraith
My Wife And I – Page 287 by Tom Lucas
A Ward Of The Probate Court – Page 296 by William Van Horn
Riding The Rods – Page 303 by Charlie Simonson
The Salesman – Page 317 by Bob Ovatt
Fired Again – Page 325 by Wallace Gillam
The Fearful One – Page 332 by Archie Trowbridge
Truth Freed Me! – Page 336 by Paul Stanley
Smile With Me, At Me – Page 340 by Harold Sears
A Close Shave – Page 348 by Henry Zoeller
Educated Agnostic – Page 351 by Norman Hunt
Another Prodigal Story – Page 357 by Ralph Furlong
The Car Smasher – Page 364 by Dick Stanley
Hindsight – Page 370 by Myron Williams
On His Way – Page 375 by Horace Maher
An Alcoholic’s Wife – Page 378 by Marie Bray
An Artist’s Concept – Page 380 by Ray Campbell
The Rolling Stone – Page 386 by Lloyd Tate
Lone Endeavor – Page 391 by Pat Cooper/Ruth Hock (First Printing Only)
Now We Are Thousands – Page 391
Appendix – Page 397
Number of Each Printings Released:
This is a list that was released by AA and may not be entirely accurate:
First Printing April, 1939 — 4,650
Second Printing March, 1941 — 5,000
Third Printing June, 1942 — 5,000
Fourth Printing March, 1943 — 5,000
Fifth Printing January, 1944 — 5,000
Sixth Printing June, 1944 — 5,000
Seventh Printing January, 1945 — 5,000
Eighth Printing February, 1945 — 20,000
Ninth Printing January, 1946 — 20,000
Tenth Printing August, 1946 — 25,000
Eleventh Printing June, 1947 — 25,000
Twelfth Printing October, 1948 — 42,350
Thirteenth Printing February, 1950 — 50,000
Fourteenth Printing July, 1951 — 49,800
Fifteenth Printing January, 1954 — 16,242
Sixteenth Printing August, 1954 — 15,700
Description of each book in this collection:
First Printing - 1 (Red)
The Alcoholics Anonymous First Printing of the First Edition Big Book from 1939 with the Original Dust Jacket is the most uncommon AA Big Book to find available for purchase with an exception for the Seventh Printing from 1945 which only had a few hundred copies were printed due to printing errors. There were approximately 4,600 First Printings that were printed in April 1939. For comparison, each of the first 6 printings of the First Edition had approximately 5,000 copies and the Eighth Printing from 1945 had 20,000. With the First Printing being the oldest and most unique of them all, it holds the most value.
The first and maybe most obvious to notice is that the cover on all First Printing books was in the red cloth with the red and yellow circus jacket. During these early days of AA much was done by trial and error. Nearly all AA members at the time were living in poverty including Bill Wilson, he and his wife Lois became homeless in May 1939 and remained without a home of their own until April 1941. Because there was so little money AA tried to cut as many corners as possible when it came to publishing the book. The printer Cornwall Press was so concerned about receiving payment they cut the first printing order short and only produced 4,650 copies of the April 1939 release. All of these 1939 printings were bound in Red cloth.
Page 1 is the first page of the Doctor’s Opinion. The Doctor’s Opinion is now in the Roman Numeral section at the front of the big book and Page 1 is now the beginning of Bill’s Story. This change happened with the First Printing of the Second Edition.
Despite all their efforts at proofreading, there was a typographical error in the First Printing on page 234, the second and third line from the bottom was printed twice. This was corrected in subsequent printings.
The Appendix gives information about the structure of The Alcoholic Foundation, Trustees, and how to contact Alcoholics Anonymous.
To find a First Printing with the Original Dust Jacket is even more rare to find. It is believed that there are less than 100 that have survived over the years. Many of these books that are in similar conditions have been sold for $50,000 and more.
Book 1 - Red First Printing: This specific book has stood the test of time. It is in remarkable condition. The red cloth cover has remained bright with minimal signs of wear. The gilt lettering has been unaffected by any fading or rubbing. The pages inside the book are clean. There is no writing or markings inside this book. The dust jacket has truly done its job in protecting this book! The dust jacket is complete and in excellent condition with only some edge wear and minor stains. It is extremely rare to find a dust jacket that has not been torn.
Second Printing - 3 Colors (Light Blue, Navy Blue, & Red)
The Second Printing of the First Edition Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book was published in March 1941 with 5,000 copies released. The book was released at the same time as the famed Saturday Evening Post article written by Jack Alexander which hit the newsstands on March 1, 1941. Because of the national publicity from the article, AA grew from a membership of 2,000 to over 8,000 in following year.
Two years had passed since the publication of the First Printing of the Big Book. AA was in its early days and during the process of getting the First Printing made there were some errors and corrections that needed to be made. Also, over those 2 years, there was evidence that the program detailed in the book worked. The fellowship was growing and more people were achieving sobriety. So when the time came for the 2nd printing there was reluctance to change the program. But some changes needed to be made. It is often heard around the Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous that there have never been any changes to the Big Book. That statement is false! Changes started happening immediately with the 1941 second printing.
When AA requested the “Second Printing” order of 5,000 the printer was able to use a blue cloth for most of this print run. The second printing came in three different colors: Light Blue, Navy Blue, and Red. The majority of the 5,000 copies were in the two shades of blue but a small number were made with the same red cloth left over from the 1939 printing. It is believed that there were only approximately 4,650 First Printings actually printed (the order of 5,000 copies was shortened). It’s believed that the printer may have used some of the remaining red covers on a some of the 1941 books. Also on the front cover of the blue printings, they no longer used the gold lettering for “Alcoholics Anonymous.” The gold was still used on the spine.
In the very first sentence of the Forward, there was a change that now said “more than two thousand men and women” rather than “more than one hundred men and women”.
There was a change to the 12th step on page 72. “Spiritual Experience” was changed to “Spiritual Awakening.” Along with an asterisk that notifies the reader of Appendix II on page 399. The Appendix II was added to the book for the Second Printings and was not present in the First Printing. Page 234 had the misprinted line of text removed.
On page 391, the story “Lone Endeavor” was removed after the First Printing and new content was added which was titled “Now We Are Two Thousand”. The title of this page was updated with the new membership numbers with each subsequent printing of the First Edition until the 10th Printing in 1946 when AA discontinued the update of membership and simply titled the page “Now We Are Thousands”
Book 2 - Light Blue Second Printing: This book is in excellent condition and comes with the original dust jacket. The light blue cover shows some wear with minor stains. The gilt lettering on the spine is bright and looks great. The pages inside the book are clean. There is no writing or markings inside this book. The dust jacket is complete and in excellent condition with only some edge wear and minor stains.
Book 3 - Navy Blue Second Printing: This book is in near mint condition and comes with the original dust jacket. The navy blue cover shows no wear at all! The gilt lettering on the spine is bright and looks great. The pages inside the book are clean. There is no writing or markings inside this book. The dust jacket is complete and in excellent condition with only some edge wear and minor stains.
Book 4 - Red Second Printing: This is the extremely rare First Edition Second Printing Big Book from 1941 that features the red cloth cover. It is believed that there were approximately 200 Second Printings that featured the red cover in 1941. This is one of only a handful that are known to still exist. This book is in very good condition and comes with an original dust jacket. The red cloth cover shows some wear with stains and fading. There is handwriting on the first page of the book and no other writing in the book. The dust jacket has experienced wear with a small portion missing from the top of the spine. A reproduction dust jacket will be provided underneath the original jacket.
Third Printing - 3 Colors (Light Blue, Olive Green, and Navy Blue)
The Third Printing of the First Edition Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book was published in June 1942 with 5,000 copies released. On page 27, the first page of "There is a Solution", there was a change to the second line of text that previously read "one hundred men who were once" to "hundreds of men who were once". Page 391 in this book is titled "Now We Are Six Thousand"
Book 5 - Light Blue Third Printing: This book is in excellent condition and comes with the original dust jacket. The light blue cover shows no wear. The gilt lettering is bright and looks great. There is no writing or markings inside this book. The dust jacket shows edge wear and tears including a small portion at the bottom of the spine missing.
Book 6 - Green Third Printing: This book is in very good condition and comes with the original dust jacket. The green cover shows some wear with minor stains. The gilt lettering is bright and looks great. Inside of the front cover and the first page of the book shows that something had been taped there at one time. There is pen markings and writing on page 71. There is no other writing or markings inside this book. The dust jacket shows edge wear, stains, and has a tear to the back cover.
Book 7 - Navy Blue Third Printing: This book is in excellent condition and comes with the original dust jacket. The navy blue cover shows no wear. The gilt lettering is bright and looks great. There is no writing or markings inside this book. The dust jacket has experienced edge wear and small tears.
Fourth Printing - 2 Colors (Olive Green, and Navy Blue)
The Fourth Printing of the First Edition Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book was published in March 1943 with 5,000 copies released. On page 27, the first page of "There is a Solution", there was a change to the second line of text that previously read "hundreds men who were once" to "thousands of men and women who were once". Page 391 in this book is titled "Now We Are Eight Thousand"
Book 8 - Green Fourth Printing: One of the first 3,500 copies of the fourth printing, bound in green cloth--after which a remaining 1,500 copies were bound in navy blue. This book is in excellent condition and comes with the original dust jacket. The green cover shows minor wear. The gilt lettering is bright and looks great. There is no writing or markings inside this book. The first two pages of the book have a rust stain from a paperclip. The dust jacket has experienced edge wear and small tears.
Book 9 - Navy Blue Fourth Printing: One of the 1,500 copies of the fourth printing bound in navy blue cloth--which was after 3,500 copies were bound in green. This book is in excellent condition and comes with the original dust jacket. The navy blue cover shows no wear. The gilt lettering is bright and looks great. There is no writing or markings inside this book. The dust jacket is in excellent condition with minor edge wear.
Fifth Printing - 1 Color (Light Blue)
The Fifth Printing of the First Edition Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book was published in January 1944 with 5,000 copies released. This printing was exclusively printed in only one color being light blue. Page 391 in this book is titled "Now We Are Ten Thousand"
Book 10 - Fifth Printing: The 5th printing is the last of the true “Big” Big Books. This book is in excellent condition and comes with the original dust jacket. The light blue cover shows little wear with a small stain at the bottom of the front cover. The gilt lettering is bright and looks great. There is no writing or markings inside this book. The dust jacket has experienced edge wear including a small torn piece of the front cover.
Sixth Printing - 1 Color (Navy Blue)
The Sixth Printing of the First Edition Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book was published in June 1944 with 5,000 copies released. This printing was exclusively printed in only one color being navy blue. All remaining printings of the First Edition were printed using the same shade of navy blue covers. The first 5 printings of the big book are slightly thicker than the 6th printing. The size change occurred due to the thickness of the paper used inside the book. The 6th and 7th Printings were the same size before significantly shrinking in size for the 8th Printing.
Book 11 - Sixth Printing: This book is in excellent condition and comes with the original dust jacket. The navy blue cover shows little wear with a small stain at the bottom of the front cover. The gilt lettering is bright and looks great. There is no writing or markings inside this book. The dust jacket has experienced edge wear including a small torn piece of the front cover.
Seventh Printing - 1 Color (Navy Blue)
During World War II, The United States Government placed regulations on book printings. These regulations were put in place to conserve paper by limiting the size and weight of books. In January 1945, Alcoholics Anonymous started printing the 7th Printing of the First Edition. It was intended for this printing to be smaller in size to conform to the government mandate but for some reason, this was never done. It is unknown why exactly the changes were not made for the 7th Printing. We do know that a very limited number of 7th Printings were released, some AA historians have estimated that there were approximately 300-500 printed. The previous six printings of the First Edition each had around 5,000 copies printed.
The 7th Printing even included the “Important Notice” about the size being decreased due to the Government regulations. We’re guessing that the reason the 7th Printing had a small run that the printer had not yet manually made the changes to the printing press to accommodate the smaller book. Once the printing press was changed they discontinued any more printings of the 7th and immediately began producing the smallest big book ever printed!
Book 12 - Seventh Printing: This book is in excellent condition and comes with the original dust jacket. The navy blue cover shows minimal wear. The gilt lettering is bright and looks great. There is no writing or markings inside this book. The dust jacket has experienced edge wear including several tears and small portion of the front cover missing.
Eighth Printing - 1 Color (Navy Blue)
The 8th printing is from February 1945 with 20,000 copies released. The Wartime announcement is included on the second page of the book and in the corrected size to meet the government regulations. The 8th Printing is the smallest of all of the 16 printings of the First Edition Big Books!
Book 13 - Eighth Printing: This book is in excellent condition and comes with the original dust jacket. The navy blue cover shows minimal wear. The gilt lettering is bright and looks great. A previous oner signed and dated the first page of the book. There is no other writing or markings inside this book. The dust jacket has experienced edge wear.
Ninth Printing - 1 Color (Navy Blue)
This printing is from January 1946 with 20,000 copies released. This printing was slightly larger than the 8th printing with the remainder of the printings of the first edition being the same size. This was printed after the war had ended and the “Important Notice” about government regulations was removed from the book. Page 391 in this book is titled "Now We Are Twenty-Three Thousand".
Book 14 - Ninth Printing: This book is in excellent condition and comes with the original dust jacket. The navy blue cover shows some wear with small rubbing marks on the spine and cover. The gilt lettering is bright and looks great. There is no writing or markings inside this book. The dust jacket has experienced edge wear and several tears including one at the bottom of the spine.
Tenth Printing - 1 Color (Navy Blue)
This printing is from August 1946 with 25,000 copies released. Page 391 in this book is titled "Now We Are Thousands", which remained the title of this page for the remainder of the printings of the first edition.
Book 15 - Tenth Printing: This book is in excellent condition and comes with the original dust jacket. The navy blue cover shows minimal wear. The gilt lettering is bright and looks great. There is no writing or markings inside this book. The dust jacket has experienced edge wear with marks from creases at the bottom of the front cover.
Eleventh Printing - 1 Color (Navy Blue)
This printing is from June 1947 with 25,000 copies released.
Book 16 - Eleventh Printing: This book is in excellent condition and comes with the original dust jacket. The navy blue cover shows minimal wear with only a small white mark on the front cover. The gilt lettering is bright and looks great. There is no writing or markings inside this book. The dust jacket is in excellent condition with minimal wear.
Twelfth Printing - 1 Color (Navy Blue)
This printing is from October 1948 with 42,350 copies released.
Book 17 - Twelfth Printing: This book is in excellent condition and comes with the original dust jacket. The navy blue cover shows minimal wear. The gilt lettering is bright and looks great. There is no writing or markings inside this book. The dust jacket is in excellent condition with minimal wear.
Thirteenth Printing - 1 Color (Navy Blue)
This printing is from February 1950 with 50,000 copies released, making this the printing with the highest amount of copies of the first edition.
Book 18 - Thirteenth Printing: This book is in excellent condition and comes with the original dust jacket. The navy blue cover shows minimal wear. The gilt lettering is bright and looks great. A previous owner signed and dated the inside of the front cover of the book. There is no other writing or markings inside this book. The dust jacket is in excellent condition with minimal wear.
Fourteenth Printing - 1 Color (Navy Blue)
This printing is from July 1951 with 49,800 copies released. This was the last printing under “Works Publishing, Inc.” Starting with the 15th Printing in 1954, AA began Publishing under “Alcoholics Anonymous Publishing, Inc.”
Book 19 - Fourteenth Printing: This book is in excellent condition and comes with the original dust jacket. The navy blue cover shows minimal wear with only a small white stain at the top edge of the front cover. The gilt lettering is bright and looks great. There is no writing or markings inside this book. The dust jacket is in excellent condition with minimal wear.
Fifteenth Printing - 1 Color (Navy Blue)
This printing is from January 1954 with 16,242 copies released. This was planned to be the last printing of the first edition with the anticipated release of the second edition at the July 1955 AA International Convention. Due to low supplies of printed books, AA needed to print more copies to fulfill demand. This was the first big book published under the newly established publishing company, “Alcoholics Anonymous Publishing, Inc.”
Book 20 - Fifteenth Printing: This book is in excellent condition and comes with the original dust jacket. The navy blue cover shows minimal wear. The gilt lettering is bright and looks great. There is an inscription on the first page of the book. There is no other writing or markings inside this book. The dust jacket is in excellent condition with minimal wear.
Sixteenth Printing - 1 Color (Navy Blue)
This was the last printing of the First Edition Big Book. It was unexpected for this printing to be released due to plans for the 2nd Edition release date in 1955. There was a need for more books to be printed ahead of the scheduled release because the 15th printings were selling so fast! There were only 15,700 printings released in August 1954.
Book 21 - Sixteenth Printing: rThis book is in excellent condition and comes with the original dust jacket. The navy blue cover shows minimal wear. The gilt lettering is bright and looks great. There is no writing or markings inside this book. The dust jacket is in excellent condition with minimal wear.