i was wrong,

http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&story=MacBasic.txt

"The Beta version of MacBASIC had been released to interested parties, including Dartmouth University which used it in an introductory programming class. Apple tried to get back all the copies, but the Beta version was widely pirated, and two books on MacBASIC were published, and sold quite well for several years."

man, i'd like to get my grubby mit's on a copy of MacBASIC.