Reddit reviews The Book That Started It All: The Original Working Manuscript of Alcoholics Anonymous

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The problem was that the letter from Barry Leach was filed away in 1979 and promptly forgotten. I suppose there must have been a turnover of staff or something.

When Roberts bought the manuscript, he had it scanned and then the scans were published as "The Book That Started It All", in 2010. I may be mistaken, but I have heard that inside the front cover was Lois's inscription to Barry Leach. Perhaps it was this publication that tipped AA World Service to examine their files and to try to trace the provenance of the manuscript. This may have led to the discovery of the Gifting Letter, and once the location of the manuscript was determined, AA moved to freeze it in place, and take legal action to enforce what they view as their title to the manuscript, and to attempt to take possession of it.

Sotheby's had no idea in the 2004 or the 2007 auctions that title to it was clouded, and frankly, neither did anyone else. The fault lies, in my opinion, with whoever removed the copies of the letter from the will of Barry Leach, and from the manuscript itself. The Letter clearly shows Mr. Leach's intent, especially since he had it notarized.