History & item details
Truth, Unselfishness, Purity and Love
In the photographed chapter “Jesus and Standards,” Speer sets out absolute standards of truth, unselfishness, purity and love. These pages are a particularly compelling feature of the book for recovery-history readers: the ideas can be examined in the original text, rather than encountered only through later summaries.
The Oxford Group, an important forerunner of A.A., would use honesty, purity, unselfishness and love as its Four Absolutes. Speer’s discussion helps place those familiar standards within the broader Christian ethical writing that preceded the Fellowship. The historical interest is in the language and ideas preserved on the page.
For a collector, books such as this help widen the view beyond A.A.’s own publications. They offer context for the spiritual vocabulary of personal change, self-examination and service that early members encountered before the Twelve Steps were put into print.
This Fifth Edition
The title page carries the Fleming H. Revell Company imprint for New York, Chicago and Toronto. The copyright leaf states “Fifth Edition” and records copyright 1902; a separate date for this particular issue is not stated in the photographed material. Its decorative cloth binding and gilt lettering give it the period appearance of an early religious volume, while the photographed standards chapter shows why the contents continue to interest recovery-history collectors.
Publication Details
- Title: The Principles of Jesus Applied to Some Questions of To-day
- Author: Robert E. Speer
- Publisher: Fleming H. Revell Company, New York, Chicago and Toronto
- Edition statement: Fifth Edition
- Copyright: 1902; issue date not separately stated
- Binding: Decorative dark cloth hardcover with gilt lettering
Condition
The cloth shows rubbing, scattered marks and wear at the corners and spine ends, with fraying at the extremities. The front inner hinge shows separation and an exposed joint. The endpapers and photographed text leaves have age toning and scattered spotting. No dust jacket is present. Please review the photographs and handle the binding with care.
