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Which A.A. books are oldest, and why does the date matter?

In short:

  • The oldest A.A. text is the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous, first published in April 1939. Its first 164 pages and the Foreword to the First Edition are the 1939 text.
  • Next come Bill W.'s Grapevine essays on the Traditions (1946–47) and the Traditions' Long Form (1946). Almost everything else in our sources were written or compiled after Dr. Bob died in 1950 (the exceptions are pieces reprinted inside later books, such as Dr. Bob's 1948 talk in P-53): the 1955 forewords and appendix, A.A. Comes of Age (1957), the pamphlets, Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers (1980) and Pass It On (1984).
  • The date matters because later accounts sometimes add details, change them, or disagree with the earlier text. When two sources differ, the earlier one is closer to the events, and the reader deserves to see both.
  • A later book isn't wrong because it is later. It just has to be read with its date in view.

Our sources, oldest first

Each date is read from the source's own pages where it prints one.

Source Written or first published How we know
Alcoholics Anonymous, Foreword to the First Edition and pp. 1–164 1939 The foreword is printed "as it appeared in the first printing of the first edition in 1939" (p. xiii); the copyright page lists the first edition, 1939–1955 (p. iv); footnotes in Chapter 11 mark passages "Written in 1939" (pp. 161, 162)
Early personal stories (e.g. "Doctor Bob's Nightmare") 1939 Dr. Bob writes that "nearly four years have passed" since June 1935 (p. 180)
Appendix II, Spiritual Experience after the first printing; in the book's appendices since the second edition, 1955 (Preface, p. xi) the appendix says "our first printing gave many readers the impression" (p. 567) it corrects; our text doesn't print the year
The Traditions, Long Form Grapevine, April 1946 P-44 (P-44); now Appendix I, pp. 561–566
P-17, Bill W.'s Grapevine essays on the Traditions 1946–47 (pamphlet © 2019) each essay is dated in the pamphlet
Foreword to the Second Edition; Appendix I placed in the book 1955 "Figures given in this foreword describe the Fellowship as it was in 1955." (p. xv)
P-44, A.A.'s Legacy of Service (Bill W.) text describes events through 1955; later updates in brackets; pamphlet © 2018 P-44 front and back matter
A.A. Comes of Age 1957 its own timeline says it was published in October 1957; our copy is a later printing, with a letter from Bill dated March 1967
Twelve Concepts for World Service 1962 A.A. Comes of Age timeline
P-43, Twelve Traditions Illustrated © 1971 front matter
Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers 1980 "First Printing, 1980"; begun after the April 1977 Conference approved it
Pass It On 1984 Library of Congress number 84-072766; the copy has later footnotes
P-53, The Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous © 2017; holds Dr. Bob's December 1948 talk (first printed 1973) and Bill's October 1969 talk P-53 introductions
P-8, P-16; The A.A. Service Manual © 2017; © 2018; 2024–2026 edition front matter

Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions (1953) is not in our sources and is never used as a source here.

Why the date matters: examples from these pages

Reading the sources side by side shows details shifting as the story was retold: - Bill D., A.A. number three. His own story says he was hospitalized eight times in six months and came to on June 26, 1935 (p. 184). Bill W.'s 1957 account has him say six times in four months and puts the visit within days of June 10 (A.A. Comes of Age, 1957). See Who was the third member, and how was he found? - Where Dr. Bob trained. P-53 and the 1980 biography put his internship at City Hospital, Akron; Bill's 1957 account says Chicago (A.A. Comes of Age, 1957). See Who was Dr. Bob? - The first meeting. The 1955 foreword says June 1935 (p. xv); Dr. Bob's own 1939 story puts it on Mother's Day, weeks before June 10 (p. 179). See How did Bill W. and Dr. Bob meet? - Names appear later. The 1939 text names no one in the founding story; the hotel, the minister and Henrietta Seiberling are named in 1948 and 1957 accounts. That isn't a contradiction: the 1939 book asked its members to stay anonymous in print (p. xiii), and the names came out later.

The later books are honest about this risk themselves. Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers quotes an oldtimer saying people are "always repeating things Dr. Bob said that I know he didn't" (Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers, 1980).

How Recovery Starts uses dates

  • The earliest source leads. Where the 1939 or 1955 Big Book covers a point, it is quoted first, and later books add detail with their dates attached.
  • Every source on every page is dated, so a reader can weigh it.
  • Where sources disagree, both are given with their dates, and the page says our sources don't settle it.
  • Later literature is read with caution: not because it is wrong, but because many other factors were in play by the time it was written. The pages always come back to the early days.

Read it yourself

Sources

Source Pages Date
Alcoholics Anonymous, copyright page, forewords, Chapter 11, "Doctor Bob's Nightmare" iv, xiii, xv, 161, 180, 184 1939–2001 as shown
Each book and pamphlet's own front matter — as in the table

Recovery Starts is independent and not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous. Quotations are brief and cited; the Big Book and the other books and pamphlets named are © A.A. World Services, Inc.; P-17's articles are © AA Grapevine, Inc.

These pages answer questions about A.A. from A.A.'s own published literature, read in full, with every quote checked word for word against the page it cites. Recovery Starts is independent and not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous. What we read, and when each source was written.