History & item details
The Final Second Edition Printing
The Sixteenth Printing of 1974 closes the Second Edition printing sequence. Introduced in 1955, the edition had accompanied A.A. members through nearly two decades; the Third Edition would appear in 1976. This final printing gives a chronological collection a meaningful endpoint and preserves the form of the book before its next major story revision.
The Recovery Message, a Wider Fellowship
The Second Edition appeared in 1955, sixteen years after the original Big Book. Its central recovery chapters remained substantially the same, while the revised personal stories brought a wider range of A.A. experience into the book. The edition also incorporated the Twelve Traditions and additional reference material.
For a reader returning to an older Big Book, the combination can be especially meaningful: familiar passages sit beside the voices through which an earlier generation recognized its own experience. An original Second Edition is both a historical book and a connection to the meetings, sponsors and personal reading that carried its message.
This Copy
The gilt spine lettering and blind-stamped front board preserve the familiar Second Edition appearance. Together with its original jacket, this volume provides a visual endpoint for a chronological collection of the edition.
Publication Details
- Title: Alcoholics Anonymous
- Edition and printing: Second Edition, Sixteenth Printing, 1974
- Publisher: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., New York
- Binding: Original blue cloth hardcover
- Dust jacket: Original Dust Jacket
Condition
Book: The cloth shows rubbing and wear at the corners and spine ends. Pronounced brown and yellow toning or discoloration appears on the front endpapers, with scattered spotting and lighter toning elsewhere. The photographed text is clear and legible.
Original Dust Jacket: Rubbing, creasing, edge tears and small losses, particularly at the corners and spine ends.
Please examine all photographs for the condition and appearance of this particular copy.
Explore Big Book History
Read A.A.’s Foreword to the Second Edition for the edition’s own account of the Fellowship’s growth. For the book’s earlier history, explore our Collector’s Guide to First Edition Big Books and First Edition printing-by-printing history.
