Scribner’s Magazine June 1936 - The Danger Line of Drink By Richard R. Peabody

Scribner’s Magazine — June 1936

Featuring “The Danger Line of Drink” by Richard R. Peabody

Charles Scribner’s Sons · New York City
Volume XCIX · Number 6 · June 1936

Description

Offered here is the June 1936 issue of Scribner’s Magazine, featuring the article “The Danger Line of Drink” by Richard R. Peabody, an important early alcoholism writer whose work helped shape pre-A.A. thinking about compulsive drinking, warning signs, and the progression from social drinking into alcoholism.

Published three years before the first printing of Alcoholics Anonymous, this article captures the medical and psychological conversation about drinking before A.A. became widely known. Peabody writes directly to the question of how a person can recognize when drinking has crossed a dangerous line, using practical examples and plain language rather than moral condemnation.

The article opens with the question:

“What are the signs which indicate that liquor is ‘getting’ a man? Is the ‘hair of the dog’ as salutary as it is supposed to be? Here are five rules by which to judge whether the road to alcoholism is open.”

Peabody’s discussion includes several warning signs that would become familiar themes in later alcoholism literature: morning drinking, using alcohol as an escape from emotional discomfort, increasing dependence, inability to stop once started, and behavior under the influence that becomes irrational or destructive.

Historical Significance

Richard R. Peabody was best known for his influential 1931 book The Common Sense of Drinking, one of the important pre-A.A. works on alcoholism and recovery. His approach emphasized self-understanding, discipline, and psychological insight at a time when alcoholism was still widely misunderstood as weakness, vice, or moral failure.

This 1936 Scribner’s article is especially interesting because it appeared during the years just before A.A.’s founding literature reached the public. It represents the kind of thinking, language, and treatment philosophy that existed in the alcoholism field immediately before the Big Book changed the conversation in 1939.

For collectors of early alcoholism literature, pre-A.A. recovery writing, magazine articles on drink, and the broader intellectual climate that surrounded A.A.’s emergence, this is a meaningful and uncommon piece.

Collector’s Significance

Highlights include:

• June 1936 issue of Scribner’s Magazine
• Features “The Danger Line of Drink” by Richard R. Peabody
• Published three years before the first edition of Alcoholics Anonymous
• Important pre-A.A. article on warning signs of alcoholism
• Discusses “hair of the dog,” morning drinking, emotional escape, increased dependence, and abnormal conduct while drinking
• Strong companion piece to The Common Sense of Drinking and other early alcoholism literature
• Valuable for collectors interested in the medical, psychological, and cultural understanding of alcoholism before A.A.

Issue Details

Title: Scribner’s Magazine
Date: June 1936
Volume/Number: Volume XCIX, Number 6
Publisher: Charles Scribner’s Sons
Featured Article: “The Danger Line of Drink”
Author: Richard R. Peabody
Article Pages: Begins on page 370
Format: Original magazine issue

Condition

This magazine is in good condition overall. The front cover shows age-related toning, spotting, handling wear, and light edge wear. Interior pages are intact and readable, with normal age toning throughout. The featured article is complete.

Please review all photos carefully for the most accurate representation of condition.

Collector’s Note

A strong pre-A.A. alcoholism article from one of the best-known early writers on compulsive drinking. Published in 1936, this issue offers a fascinating look at how alcoholism was being discussed just before the Big Book and A.A.’s public emergence. A meaningful addition to a collection focused on early alcoholism studies, Richard Peabody, pre-A.A. recovery literature, or the roots of modern addiction understanding.