Alcoholics Anonymous First Edition 6th Printing from 1944 - Inscribed by Bill Wilson to Priscilla Peck
Alcoholics Anonymous First Edition 6th Printing from 1944 - Inscribed by Bill Wilson to Priscilla Peck
This is the 6th Printing of the First Edition Big Book from 1944! This book has an original dust jacket.
This is such a special piece of AA History! This book is inscribed by AA cofounder Bill Wilson to Priscilla Peck, who was the longtime partner of AA Marty Mann. Marty Mann and Priscilla Peck were romantic partners for 40 years. They owned a home in Cherry Grove as well as New York City. Priscilla achieved sobriety and joined AA in the early 1940’s with the help of Bill Wilson and Marty Mann. Priscilla helped with the creation of the AA Grapevine in 1944 and remained one of the main contributors to the Grapevine.
From the June 1989 Grapevine –Felicia G. (Countess) wrote:
“In Marty’s and Priscillas NY apartment when they first talked about a magazine devoted to AA and alcoholism. It would be about 8 pages, rather like a tabloid, with beautiful print that would be easy to read.
Priscilla, who was the art editor of Vogue, designed the title page. She drew the grapes, hanging on the vines as a background. Then she drew "The Grapevine" as the title in big black letters almost an inch high”
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This book was inscribed by Bill to Priscilla at Christmas in 1944!
The inscription by Bill reads:
”Priscilla Peck, My treasured friend of AA, whose labor of love for us all will never be forgotten. ‘Bill’ Xmas/44”
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.
This book is in very good condition. The cover looks very nice but does have some minor wear at the top and bottom of the spine. The gold lettering on the spine is bright and looks great. The inscription by Bill is on the first page of the book. There is no other writing or markings inside this book.
The original dust jacket has experienced wear and tears. There has been some tape applied to the jacket in several spots to reinforce.
Please view all the photos for the conditions!