The Varieties of Religious Experience — William James | Twenty-Eighth Impression, 1917
The Varieties of Religious Experience — William James
Twenty-Eighth Impression, 1917
Longmans, Green, and Co. · Original Hardcover
Offered here is a 1917 Twenty-Eighth Impression of William James’s landmark work, The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature.
First published in 1902, the book grew from James’s Gifford Lectures on Natural Religion delivered at the University of Edinburgh in 1901–1902. Rather than focusing primarily on theology or organized religion, James examined the personal experience of conversion, surrender, spiritual awakening, mysticism, and the lasting transformation that can follow profound inner change.
This copy was published by Longmans, Green, and Co. in 1917, fifteen years after the original edition.
William James and Alcoholics Anonymous
The Varieties of Religious Experience holds an important place in the history of Alcoholics Anonymous because of its influence on Bill W.
During Bill’s final hospitalization at Towns Hospital in December 1934, Ebby T. brought him a copy of the book. Bill read James following his celebrated spiritual experience and found particular meaning in James’s examination of sudden religious conversion and the transformative experiences of people brought to a point of profound personal defeat.
The book helped Bill interpret what had happened to him and reinforced the idea that a spiritual experience could bring about a genuine change in motivation, outlook, and behavior.
For collectors of A.A. history, William James represents one of the important intellectual and spiritual influences behind Bill W.’s developing understanding of recovery.
Book Details
Title: The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature
Author: William James
Publisher: Longmans, Green, and Co.
Impression: Twenty-Eighth Impression
Year: 1917
First Published: 1902
Content: Gifford Lectures on Natural Religion, Edinburgh, 1901–1902
Binding: Original blue cloth hardcover with paper spine label
Condition
Good overall condition for a book published in 1917.
The original blue cloth binding shows considerable age-related fading, rubbing, spotting, and discoloration. The corners and spine ends show wear and fraying, and the original paper spine label is toned, worn, and partially faded but remains identifiable.
The interior shows age toning and general wear consistent with age. Pencil notations appear on the front endpaper and title page. The pages remain readable and the book retains its original binding.
Please review all photographs carefully for the exact condition and appearance of this copy.
Collector Significance
This is an appealing early 20th-century printing of one of the most important works associated with the spiritual and intellectual background of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Published seventeen years before Bill W.’s 1934 hospitalization at Towns Hospital, this 1917 impression predates A.A. itself and represents the form in which James’s influential ideas were already circulating long before Bill encountered the book.
A meaningful addition to a collection focused on William James, the spiritual influences behind Alcoholics Anonymous, or the books that helped shape Bill W.’s understanding of spiritual experience and recovery.
