Offered here is an extraordinary association copy of the Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book, Second Edition, First Printing from 1955, inscribed by A.A. co-founder Bill Wilson to Sacramento Group #3 and surrounded by the signatures of numerous individuals involved in the early General Service structure of Alcoholics Anonymous.

The documented history of this book connects Sacramento Group #3, James “Jim” Masterson, William H. Winegar, Bill Wilson, trustees of Alcoholics Anonymous, and members of the New York General Service Headquarters staff during an important period in the development of the Fellowship.

Accompanying the book is a signed provenance statement from Winegar, dated June 11, 2004, explaining that Masterson brought the book to a meeting in New York in 1957 and obtained the signatures found inside.

Together, the book, Bill Wilson inscription, collection of early A.A. service signatures, and surviving documentation create an exceptional artifact of Alcoholics Anonymous history.

Historical Association & Provenance

The front endpaper contains a substantial presentation inscription from Bill Wilson:

To Sacramento #3 —
In remembrance
and gratitude
Ever
Bill
NY | 57

Immediately above Bill’s inscription is a handwritten notation identifying “Thursday Nite Unit” with an arrow pointing toward “Sacramento #3.”

At the upper right appears “Jim M. – Calif.”, providing another internal connection to Jim Masterson and the California provenance documented by William Winegar.

Surrounding Bill’s inscription are numerous signatures belonging to men and women involved with the General Service Board, General Service Headquarters, A.A. publishing activities, and the broader service community of Alcoholics Anonymous during the 1950s.

This was not simply a Big Book passed around for autographs. The people represented on the page occupied different positions within the service structure A.A. was developing to ensure the Fellowship could continue beyond its founding generation.

The 1957 New York Connection

Bill Wilson specifically dated his inscription “NY | 57.”

The accompanying provenance statement records that Jim Masterson brought the book to a meeting in New York in 1957 and collected the signatures there.

The timing is noteworthy.

The Seventh General Service Conference of Alcoholics Anonymous was held in New York City from April 17–21, 1957. Contemporary A.A. material describes a gathering bringing approximately 79 Area Delegates together with trustees, General Service Headquarters personnel, A.A. Publishing representatives, and others involved in the national service structure.

That composition corresponds remarkably well with the mixture of people whose signatures appear in this book.

We have not, however, located the complete 1957 Final Conference Report or another contemporary attendance record specifically establishing Jim Masterson’s presence at that Conference. For that reason, we do not definitively identify the Conference as the meeting described by Winegar.

What can be established directly from the book is compelling in its own right: Bill Wilson inscribed the book to Sacramento #3 in New York in 1957, and the same endpaper contains signatures of individuals serving within A.A.’s national General Service operation during this period.

James “Jim” Masterson

James Masterson provides the central link between this book, Sacramento A.A., and the national service community represented by its signatures.

Masterson achieved sobriety in 1951 and became deeply involved with Alcoholics Anonymous in Northern California. His service eventually extended well beyond his local Fellowship.

From 1963 through 1967, Masterson served on A.A.’s Board of Trustees representing the Pacific Region. In 1965, he served as chairman of A.A.’s International Convention in Toronto.

An obituary preserved with this book documents Masterson’s long involvement in Alcoholics Anonymous and his personal acquaintance with Bill Wilson.

His son later summarized the importance of A.A. in his father’s life:

“He had two families, AA and his actual family. AA became his life, pretty much.”

Masterson died in 2000 at age 83 after nearly half a century of sobriety.

His relationship to this particular Big Book is documented by the man Masterson sponsored, William H. Winegar.

The William H. Winegar Provenance

Accompanying the book is a signed provenance statement dated June 11, 2004, from William H. Winegar.

Winegar states that he had possessed the book since 1957 and had belonged to Group 3 since 1954.

Most importantly, Winegar recorded the history of the autograph page:

“James Masterson (Jim M.) was a delegate to the meeting in New York representing Northern California. He was a personal friend of Bill W. He got all the signatures in the book while he was in New York at this meeting.”

Winegar further wrote:

“Jim was my sponsor and close friend until his death in 2000.”

The physical evidence within the book corresponds with important portions of Winegar’s account.

The endpaper is marked “Jim M. – Calif.”

Bill’s inscription is specifically addressed “To Sacramento #3.”

An annotation identifies “Thursday Nite Unit” with Sacramento #3.

And Bill himself dated the inscription “NY | 57.”

Winegar’s signed statement therefore preserves something particularly valuable: not merely ownership history, but an explanation of why this remarkable collection of signatures appears together.

The Signers

Bill Wilson

William G. Wilson (1895–1971) was the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous and one of the principal architects of its program, literature, Twelve Traditions, and General Service structure.

By 1957, Wilson had spent more than two decades helping guide A.A. from a small group of recovering alcoholics into an international Fellowship.

One of Bill’s greatest concerns was ensuring that Alcoholics Anonymous could survive its founders. The General Service Conference, first held in 1951, became central to his effort to transfer responsibility for A.A.’s future from its founders to the Fellowship itself.

That transfer reached an important milestone at the 1955 International Convention in St. Louis, the same year this Second Edition Big Book was published.

Against that background, Bill’s inscription carries particular meaning:

“To Sacramento #3 — In remembrance and gratitude.”

Rather than signing the book for an individual collector, Bill addressed his message directly to an A.A. group.

Leonard Vance Harrison

Leonard Vance Harrison was one of the most important nonalcoholic trustees involved in the development of Alcoholics Anonymous’ General Service structure.

A New York attorney and longtime nonalcoholic friend of A.A., Harrison became involved in the Fellowship’s institutional affairs during the period when responsibility for Alcoholics Anonymous was being transferred from its founders to a permanent service organization.

By 1957, Harrison was Chairman of the General Service Board, placing him at the highest level of A.A.’s service structure during the year Bill inscribed this book.

His presence on the page is therefore particularly significant: alongside the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous appears the signature of the man then chairing the Board entrusted with helping safeguard A.A.’s worldwide services.

Adam T. Capeling

Adam T. Capeling of Toronto was an important figure in the early development of A.A. General Service in Canada.

Capeling was among Canada’s earliest General Service Conference delegates and became the first Canadian trustee of Alcoholics Anonymous, serving on the General Service Board during the 1950s.

His trustee service placed him directly within the emerging international General Service structure at the time represented by this book.

Capeling’s signature adds a Canadian and international dimension to an endpaper already bringing together Bill Wilson, Board leadership, Headquarters personnel, and American A.A. members.

E. D. “Icky” Sheridan

E. D. “Icky” Sheridan was an early Texas A.A. member deeply involved in General Service.

Sheridan served as an early General Service Conference delegate and subsequently became a Class B alcoholic trustee, serving on the General Service Board during the mid-to-late 1950s.

His service placed him among the generation of A.A. members responsible for turning the principles of General Service into a functioning structure accountable to the Fellowship.

His signature provides another direct connection between this book and A.A.’s national service leadership in 1957.

Henry F. “Hank” Grieme

Henry F. “Hank” Grieme was an important figure within A.A.’s New York service and publishing operation during the 1950s.

Grieme worked at General Service Headquarters during a period of tremendous expansion in A.A. membership and literature distribution and became closely involved with A.A. Publishing.

Contemporary Conference material identifies Grieme with both General Service Headquarters and A.A.’s publishing activities.

His signature is especially appropriate within a 1955 First Printing of the Second Edition Big Book, one of the most important publishing projects undertaken by Alcoholics Anonymous during this era.

Ann Macfarlane

Ann Macfarlane was a member of the General Service Headquarters staff and became closely involved with the operation of the General Service Conference.

Contemporary A.A. material identifies Macfarlane as Conference Secretary during this period.

Her work placed her directly within the administrative structure connecting Area Delegates throughout North America with General Service Headquarters and the General Service Board in New York.

Her signature helps demonstrate that the endpaper represents more than prominent personalities: it also includes people performing the practical work necessary to make A.A.’s new General Service structure function.

Hazel Rice

Hazel Rice served on the General Service Headquarters staff during the 1950s.

Contemporary Headquarters material identifies her work as including contact with hospital and prison groups, overseas groups, and Loners in several countries.

At a time when Alcoholics Anonymous was expanding rapidly beyond established local groups, this type of correspondence was an important part of connecting isolated alcoholics and developing groups with the larger Fellowship.

Her signature adds another identifiable member of the New York Headquarters staff to the page.

Eve Marsh

Eve Marsh was another member of the General Service Headquarters staff during this period.

Contemporary A.A. material identifies Marsh with Group Relations, placing her directly within the Headquarters operation responsible for maintaining contact with the expanding network of A.A. groups.

Her presence alongside trustees, Conference personnel, publishing staff, and Bill Wilson further illustrates the unusual cross-section of A.A.’s service organization represented on this single endpaper.

Dolores Dalziel

Dolores Dalziel was a member of the New York Headquarters office staff during this period and appears in contemporary General Service Conference material among the personnel involved in the operation.

Although names such as Dalziel’s are less familiar today than Bill Wilson or A.A.’s trustees, their presence is historically useful.

The endpaper preserves not simply the names of A.A.’s public leaders, but also members of the relatively small Headquarters organization carrying out the everyday administrative work of a rapidly expanding Fellowship.

Jane F.

One signature along the left side of the endpaper appears to be Jane F.

The identification is particularly interesting because the February 1957 issue of Box 459 introduced a “Jane F.” as the newest member of the General Service Headquarters service staff, describing her as an active New York A.A. member and experienced businesswoman.

The timing corresponds precisely with the year Bill dated this book “NY | 57.”

Because the identification relies upon handwriting and contextual evidence rather than a definitive signature comparison, we consider Jane F. a plausible identification rather than a conclusively established one.

Paul Gardner

The endpaper also bears the clearly readable signature of Paul Gardner.

Contemporary California A.A. material documents a Paul Gardner active within the Fellowship by the mid-1950s.

A 1955 San Diego A.A. publication advertised Gardner as a featured speaker and described him as an ex-Marine sergeant with more than eight years of A.A. sobriety, placing the beginning of his recovery around 1947 or earlier.

We have not established that Gardner held an official position at the 1957 General Service Conference and therefore make no such claim.

His presence does, however, provide another interesting California connection within a book whose documented history leads back to Sacramento.

Additional Signatures

Several additional contemporary signatures appear on the endpaper.

Some can be read with varying degrees of confidence, while others have not been conclusively identified. Rather than assign identities unsupported by sufficient evidence, these have intentionally been left unidentified.

The significance of the page does not depend upon identifying every signer.

The individuals who can be reasonably identified already represent a remarkable cross-section of A.A.’s co-founder, General Service Board leadership, alcoholic and nonalcoholic trustees, General Service Headquarters personnel, publishing operations, and experienced A.A. members.

Historical Significance

What makes this Big Book especially compelling is not simply the presence of Bill Wilson’s autograph.

It is the historical coherence of the entire artifact.

The book contains Bill Wilson’s substantial presentation inscription to Sacramento #3, dated New York, 1957.

It contains the contemporary notation “Thursday Nite Unit” pointing toward Sacramento #3 and the inscription “Jim M. – Calif.”

Surrounding Bill are signatures representing people involved with the General Service Board, trustees, General Service Headquarters, publishing operations, and the broader A.A. service community.

And accompanying the book is William Winegar’s signed 2004 provenance statement recording that Winegar belonged to Group #3 beginning in 1954; that Jim Masterson was his sponsor and close friend; and that Masterson collected the signatures while attending a meeting in New York.

The precise 1957 meeting at which Masterson collected the signatures has not been independently established. However, the circumstances described by Winegar correspond closely with the Seventh General Service Conference of Alcoholics Anonymous, held in New York City April 17–21, 1957, when delegates assembled with trustees, Headquarters personnel, publishing representatives, and A.A.’s service leadership.

Whatever the exact occasion, the book preserves something unusual:

A snapshot of Alcoholics Anonymous’ early national service community gathered onto the endpaper of a Big Book and carried back to an A.A. group in Sacramento.

That, more than any individual autograph, is what makes this copy historically significant.

Second Edition — First Printing

This copy is the First Printing of the Second Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous, published in 1955 by Alcoholics Anonymous Publishing, Inc., New York City.

The title page identifies the book as:

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS
The Story of How Many Thousands of Men and Women Have Recovered from Alcoholism
NEW AND REVISED EDITION
Alcoholics Anonymous Publishing, Inc.
New York City
1955

The copyright page states:

**“Sixteen Printings from
1939 to 1955

Second Edition, New
and Revised, 1955”**

with no subsequent printing statement.

The Second Edition represented the first major revision of the Big Book since its original publication in 1939.

The basic recovery text remained intact while the introductory material and personal-story section were revised to reflect A.A.’s extraordinary growth. The new Foreword recorded that Alcoholics Anonymous had grown to nearly 6,000 groups and more than 150,000 recovered alcoholics.

Published during the same year as A.A.’s historic 20th Anniversary International Convention in St. Louis, the Second Edition belongs to one of the defining transitional periods in early Alcoholics Anonymous history.

Condition

This is a heavily used and worn historical copy showing substantial evidence of age, handling, and moisture exposure.

The original blue cloth boards show considerable staining, discoloration, rubbing, soiling, and general surface wear. There is pronounced wear and fraying at the corners, board edges, and head and foot of the spine.

The original gilt Alcoholics Anonymous and A.A. Publishing Inc. spine lettering remains visible.

The book has experienced significant moisture exposure. Water staining, discoloration, and tide marks are visible on the binding, endpapers, and throughout portions of the text block, particularly along the margins and lower portions of pages.

The signed front endpaper containing Bill Wilson’s inscription and the accompanying signatures shows staining and age-related wear but remains clearly legible.

The interior exhibits additional signs of use, age toning, scattered staining, and occasional markings.

The volume remains together and readable.

The original dust jacket is not present.

Please review all photographs carefully for the complete condition of the book.

Accompanying Provenance & Historical Material

Several pieces of material that were preserved together at the rear of the book accompany it.

William H. Winegar Provenance Statement — June 11, 2004

A signed statement documenting Winegar’s membership in Group #3 beginning in 1954, his possession of the book since 1957, his sponsorship relationship and friendship with Jim Masterson, and Masterson’s role in obtaining the signatures in New York.

James Masterson Obituary

A newspaper obituary preserved with the book documenting Masterson’s life, sobriety beginning in 1951, decades of involvement in Alcoholics Anonymous, service on A.A.’s Board of Trustees from 1963–1967, and chairmanship of the 1965 International Convention in Toronto.

“Pettiness Prayer”

A vintage typewritten/photocopied prayer sheet preserved with the other material at the rear of the book. No specific authorship or historical provenance is attributed to this piece.

These materials will remain together with the Big Book as part of its surviving historical record.

This is far more than a Bill Wilson-signed copy of an early Big Book.

It preserves a documented chain connecting Sacramento Group #3, William Winegar, Jim Masterson, Bill Wilson, and a remarkable collection of people involved in the developing General Service structure of Alcoholics Anonymous in 1957.

At its center remains Bill Wilson’s message to the Sacramento group:

“To Sacramento #3 — In remembrance and gratitude — Ever Bill.”

Please review all photographs carefully for the exact condition of the book, inscriptions, signatures, and accompanying provenance material.