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Lot Essay
First edition, first printing, signed and inscribed by Wilson with the Serenity Prayer.
Published in New York in 1939 four years after Bill Wilson and Robert Holbrook Smith founded A.A. in 1935, it is known as the celebrated “Big Book.” The work sets out the program’s Twelve Steps and preserves early members’ testimonies, marking a turning point in modern approaches to addiction and recovery. It remains one of the most influential American publications of the twentieth century.
This copy is inscribed by Bill Wilson with the Serenity Prayer, a formula crafted by American theologian Rienhold Niebuhr in the 1930s and later adopted by the A.A. The inscription, dated 12 November 1943, reads: “God grant me the courage to accept the things I cannot change. Ever – Bill Wilson.”
Published in New York in 1939 four years after Bill Wilson and Robert Holbrook Smith founded A.A. in 1935, it is known as the celebrated “Big Book.” The work sets out the program’s Twelve Steps and preserves early members’ testimonies, marking a turning point in modern approaches to addiction and recovery. It remains one of the most influential American publications of the twentieth century.
This copy is inscribed by Bill Wilson with the Serenity Prayer, a formula crafted by American theologian Rienhold Niebuhr in the 1930s and later adopted by the A.A. The inscription, dated 12 November 1943, reads: “God grant me the courage to accept the things I cannot change. Ever – Bill Wilson.”