History & item details
Stephen Foot’s Three Lives: An Autobiography follows a career that moved between the oil business, wartime service, and education. This London edition was published by William Heinemann Ltd. in 1934, with the statement “First Published 1934” on the verso of the title page. A portrait frontispiece introduces the author, whose later writings would become associated with the Oxford Group.
The earlier life of a later Oxford Group writer
The book’s three-part structure—Oil, War, and School—makes its title unusually literal. The contents and illustrations offer glimpses of overseas oil work, the First World War, and a subsequent life in education. Foot’s story gives readers a view of the experiences behind the man who later wrote Life Began Yesterday.
For collectors interested in the wider literature surrounding the Oxford Group, this volume provides biographical background rather than a direct history of Alcoholics Anonymous. It appeared in 1934, before A.A.’s beginnings in 1935.
The original 1934 version
This is Three Lives in its earlier form. It should be distinguished from the later, expanded Three Lives—and Now, published in 1937. That difference matters when building a collection of Foot’s work: the title and date here identify the original autobiography, rather than the subsequent enlarged version.
Edition details
- Author: Stephen Foot
- Title: Three Lives: An Autobiography
- Publisher: William Heinemann Ltd., London
- Edition: First edition, 1934; “First Published 1934” stated
- Printer: The Windmill Press, Kingswood, Surrey, Great Britain
- Binding: Dark cloth hardcover with gold spine lettering; no dust jacket included
- Illustrations: Portrait frontispiece and additional illustrations listed in the contents
Condition
The cloth shows substantial rubbing, pale spotting and surface marks, with wear and fraying at the corners, joints, and spine ends. Foxing and toning are visible on the endpapers, title and preliminary pages, and photographed text pages, particularly near the margins. The front endpapers bear handwritten names or notes and dates, with no documented attribution. The photographed text remains readable. Please examine all photographs for the condition of this copy.
