7TH PRINTING, 1ST EDITION BIG BOOK
The 7th printing was done during the war. Due to shortages,
the paper they used was extremely thin and thus, the book was much thinner than any other printings. The cover was the same blue color. This printing was done exclusively for the military troops in action. There were a few copies skimmed off (not many as it turns out) and the rest were sent to Europe via a carrier for the troops. Enroute, the carrier was sunk and essentially, the whole 7th printing was lost. I'm told that there is one available at the Central Office in New York, one in the archives of some major city (Chicago I think) and I know of one in private hands. Those are the only known copies so it is more rare than the first printing of the first edition.
(Irent Rutter 3/23/99 serenty@alaska.net)