ON THE BLOCK: THE BIG BOOK AUCTION

Now up for bid: the manuscript, first published in 1939, that became a 12-step guide to life and recovery for those in Alcoholics Anonymous.

THE 161-PAGE MANUSCRIPT for the work that became the bible to millions in recovery is going up for auction on June 8. Known to those in Alcoholics Anonymous as the Big Book, the typed document was written by William Griffith Wilson (a.k.a. Bill W.) and features his hand-scrawled notes, as well as the removal of an apostrophe from the title.

First published in 1939, the text introduced the famous 12-step program used to combat addiction. Bill W. left the manuscript—which has a presale estimate of between $2 million and $3 million—to his wife following his death in 1971. Profiles in History, the firm behind the auction, will display it at the Questroyal Fine Art gallery in New York May 18–20. And if there is any poetry to the sale of this sacred text, the buyer will be anonymous.