Alcoholics Anonymous Extremely RARE First Edition 7th Printing Big Book from 1945

This is the 7th Printing of the First Edition Big Book from January 1945! This book has a portion of the original dust jacket placed on top of a reproduction dust jacket. The original dust jacket front flap that is labeled with “Seventh Printing” is included with this book. Original dust jackets for the Seventh Printings are extremely rare to find with some estimates of only 3 complete originals still in existence.

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 8th Printing, the smallest big book ever printed, in February 1945.

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This book is in good condition. There is some wear and fading marks to the cover and spine. There is an old price handwritten on the first page of the book. There are pen markings and underlining in the “Doctor’s Opinion”. There is no other writing or markings inside this book.

Please view all the photos for the conditions!