Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions — First Edition, Second Printing (1960) Harper & Brothers Issue — Original Dust Jacket
Offered here is a particularly scarce Harper & Brothers Second Printing of Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, issued in 1960 by arrangement with Alcoholics Anonymous Publishing, Inc. and retaining its original green-and-black Harper dust jacket.
Like the 1953 Harper First Printing, this edition represents a fascinating chapter in the publishing history of Alcoholics Anonymous. While A.A. distributed its own editions directly throughout the Fellowship, Harper & Brothers handled copies intended for the outside commercial book trade—placing Bill W.’s writings before bookstore customers, libraries, professionals, clergy, families, and other readers beyond A.A.’s normal distribution network.
The result was a parallel line of Harper issues that today are considerably less often encountered than their A.A.-distributed counterparts.
The 1960 Harper Second Printing
The copyright page of this copy bears the Harper printing code “B-K,” identifying this as the February 1960 printing.
Several physical characteristics immediately distinguish it from the 1953 Harper First Printing.
The first Harper issue was bound in light-colored boards with a black cloth spine. By this 1960 printing, Harper had changed the binding to full black cloth, while retaining the familiar silver spine stamping.
The title page continues to identify the author simply as:
ANONYMOUS
and states:
Harper & Brothers, New York By Arrangement with Alcoholics Anonymous Publishing, Inc.
The copyright page also reflects an interesting development in A.A.’s literature history, listing the 1952 and 1953 copyrights in the names of A.A. Grapevine, Inc. and Alcoholics Anonymous Publishing, Inc.
For collectors interested not simply in owning an early Twelve & Twelve, but in following the evolution of A.A.’s publishing history, these changes make the Harper Second Printing an especially interesting variant.
The Original Harper Dust Jacket
This copy retains the distinctive green-and-black striped Harper & Brothers dust jacket, priced at $2.75.
The front carries the early promotional line:
“A co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous tells how members recover and how the society functions.”
The rear panel reproduces material from the citation presented to Alcoholics Anonymous with the 1951 Lasker Award, an important piece of outside recognition that Harper prominently used to introduce A.A. to a general reading audience.
The jacket itself tells a very different story from the jackets created for books distributed directly through A.A., emphasizing the Fellowship’s accomplishments, public recognition, growth, and appeal to readers who may have known little or nothing about Alcoholics Anonymous.
Condition
This copy retains its original 1960 Harper & Brothers dust jacket.
The jacket shows considerable evidence of age and use, including edge wear, rubbing, small chips and short tears, scattered spotting and discoloration, and several small areas of paper loss or puncture to the rear panel. There is handwriting on the upper portion of the front flap. Despite these flaws, the jacket remains substantially complete, retains strong green-and-black coloring, and presents the distinctive Harper design well.
The black cloth hardcover remains solid and attractive overall. The silver spine lettering and decorative lines remain bright and clearly legible. The boards show scattered surface marks and areas of light staining or discoloration, with wear at the extremities.
The endpapers show age toning, spotting, and evidence of previous tape or adhesive, including rectangular areas of discoloration. A previous owner’s identification label remains affixed near the top of the rear free endpaper.
The interior pages show general age toning consistent with the book’s age. The title and copyright pages remain clean and clearly display the important Harper publishing information and B-K printing code.
The binding appears sound.
Please review all photographs carefully for the exact condition of this copy.
A Scarce Companion to the Harper First Printing
The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions had become one of the foundational books of Alcoholics Anonymous, but the Harper editions preserve another part of its story: the effort to carry A.A.’s ideas into the wider world through ordinary commercial publishing channels.
The 1953 Harper First Printing and 1960 Harper Second Printing make a particularly compelling pair. Side by side, they document changes in binding, copyright information, and presentation while preserving the distinctive Harper identity that separated these books from the editions distributed directly through A.A.
Original-jacket examples of the Harper issues are increasingly difficult to find, and the 1960 B-K Second Printing is an important addition for collectors working toward a deeper collection of early Alcoholics Anonymous literature and its major publishing variants.
