Alcoholics Anonymous Second Edition 3rd Printing Big Book from 1959 with the Original Dust Jacket

Alcoholics Anonymous Second Edition 3rd Printing Big Book from 1959 with the Original Dust Jacket

The 3rd printing is a very unique second edition printing. AA misprinted the dust jackets for the 3rd printings. By looking at the front cover of the dust jacket you can notice a glaring mistake as it is labeled as a "Third Edition". It is also labeled as a "Third Edition" with the year "1959" on the front flap of the dust jacket. The true Third Editions of the Big Book were not published until 1976, over 15 years after the Second Edition 3rd printing was published.

The first three printings of the second edition do not feature a printing number on the copyright page of the books which can make it a little more difficult to identify which printing this book truly is. Fortunately there are ways to authenticate this specific book as a 3rd printing of the second edition from 1959.

The first indicator to look at in identifying printing numbers of the second edition is to notice the different markings on the dust jacket. If the dust jacket is labeled as a "Second Edition" on the cover and labeled as published by "A.A. Pub, Inc." on the spine and back flap, it is a first or second printing of the second edition dust jacket. If it is labeled as a "Third Edition" on the cover and labeled as published by "A.A. Pub, Inc." on the spine and back flap, it is a third printing of the second edition dust jacket.

The dust jacket on this book shows that it was labeled as a "Third Edition" and printed by A.A Pub. Inc on the spine.

To verify the printing number of the book, look at the spine of the book and title page to identify if the book was published by "Alcoholics Anonymous Publishing, Inc."(A.A. Pub. Inc, for short) or published by "Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc." If the book is published by "Alcoholics Anonymous Publishing, Inc.", it is a first, second, or third printing of the second edition. If it is published by "Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc." it is a fourth through sixteenth printing.

If the book is published by "Alcoholics Anonymous Publishing, Inc.", the next step is to look at page “xx”, line 6, if the word “really” is spelled incorrectly and spelled “realy” then the book would be a first printing of the second edition. The first printing was first published in 1955 and released at the AA International Convention in St. Louis.

The first and second printings are entirely identical to each other with exception for the spelling of the word "really" on page "xx". The second printing of the second edition is undated but believed to have been printed in 1957.

If the word "really" is spelled correctly on page "xx", then one more step is needed to identify which printing of the second edition a book is. The answer is on page 16, by reading the asterisk at the bottom of the page. If the asterisk reads "AA is now composed of nearly 6000 groups (1955).", then the book is a second printing of the second edition. The book can be identified as a third printing if the asterisk reads "AA is now composed of some 7,000 groups (1959)."

This book features gold lettering on the spine. There are some rare copies of the third printing of the second edition that features silver text on the spine instead of gold.

This book is in excellent condition! The book has very little wear. There is absolutely no writing or markings inside the book at all.  The dust jacket is in good condition with some light chipping along the edges. Fading to the jacket spine.

Please view all the photos for conditions!