Note! This is only here for historical reasons. As discussed in my blog post, this auction ended in July of 2008. The books shown below ended up selling for $474.65 to a very nice man.

Overview

This auction includes all of the following items, originally released from 1974 through 1976. If I've done things correctly, you should be able to click on any of the pictures for a larger version, or you can just see them all at http://grahammitchell.com/pix/dnd/

The Dungeons & Dragons Original Collector's Edition 3-volume set white box, by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, which includes:

• Volume 1: Men & Magic
• Volume 2: Monsters & Treasure
• Volume 3: The Underworld & Wilderness Adventures

  Note: the Reference Sheets booklet is not included.

In addition to the three original rulebooks, all five supplemental rule booklets are also included:

• Greyhawk: Supplement I, by Gary Gygax and Rob Kuntz
• Blackmoor: Supplement II, by Dave Arneson
• Eldritch Wizardry: Supplement III, by Gary Gygax and Brian Blume
• Gods, Demi-Gods & Heroes: Supplement IV, by Rob Kuntz and James Ward
• Swords & Spells: Supplement V, by Gary Gygax

Finally (and probably most interestingly), this auction includes the original hand-written invoice for these books, as well as a coupon that was included with the original shipment!

• the hand-written original sales invoice
• a long-expired coupon

I will ship to the United States only, and I will use delivery confirmation. Insurance is required and already included in the cost of shipping.

Most buyers can probably stop reading here. Below this line is extreme detail of little interest to most.

Grading Detail

Unlike most sellers, I have tried to honestly evaluate the grading of these items so that more serious collectors will hopefully know what to expect. However, I'm inexperienced at this, so it's possible I may have missed something.

original box and booklets

All three booklets that shipped with the box are from the 6th printing and were probably printed in November 1979. None of the staples have any rust because they are brass. All three booklets have a curious vertical line on the page to the left of the center which appears to be a printing artifact. All have clean pages with no writing or indentations, except as noted. The covers are clean with no marks or indentations.

• the white box itself has no water damage, discoloration or spotting, and only minor wear on some of the corners. There is a slight buckle on the top of the box (both cover and bottom). There's no tape holding this box together; all the original seams are intact.

  Estimated grade: fine

• Volume 1: Men & Magic has very little wear on the corners of the pages and cover. Roughly 1" of the corner of page 5/6 was once folded over. There are a few marks on a few pages, but I think they are printing artifacts. The binding-side corners of the cover have slight rounding/fuzzing.

  Estimated grade: fine

  I don't know why this photo looks so washed-out relative to the others. As you can see in the photo with all three together, this booklet is the same color as the other two.

• Volume 2: Monsters & Treasure has minor rounding on the corners of some pages, but most are sharp. The upper binding-side of pages 9-32 are buckled about 1/4". The upper binding-side corner of the cover has slight rounding/fuzzing, and the lower corner is split/frayed about 1/16"

  Estimated grade: fine

• Volume 3: The Underworld & Wilderness Adventures has sharp corners on covers and pages. The binding-side corners of the cover have extremely slight rounding/fuzzing.

  Estimated grade: very fine

supplemental rules booklets

• Greyhawk: Supplement I (12th printing, 11/79) has relatively sharp corners on pages and the top corner of the cover. The bottom corner has minor rounding. There is a fair bit of rust on the staples outside the cover, but the staples inside the pages are clean. The pages and cover are clean and mark-free.

  Estimated grade: fine

• Blackmoor: Supplement II (9th printing, 11/79) has relatively sharp corners on pages and the cover. The bottom corner of the front cover has a slight (1/16") buckle. There is minor rust on the staples. The pages and cover are clean and mark-free.

  Estimated grade: very fine

• Eldritch Wizardry: Supplement III (9th printing, 11/79) has relatively sharp corners on pages and the cover. There is very minor rust on the staples outside the cover, but fair rust inside. The pages are clean and mark free. There are a couple of tiny marks on the front cover, and some inside the front cover.

  Estimated grade: fine

• Gods, Demi-Gods & Heroes: Supplement IV (8th printing though erroneously marked "7th", 11/79) was bound with unevenly-cut pages, so there is some minor rounding on some corners. The pages are clean and free of marks. The staples have minor rust outside and inside. There is a minor wear mark on the back cover.

  Estimated grade: very fine

• Swords & Spells: Supplement V (6th printing, 11/79) was also bound with unevenly-cut pages, but the corners are still relatively sharp. The pages and cover are clean and free of marks. The staples have minor rust outside and inside.

  Estimated grade: very fine

unique extras!

• the original hand-written sales invoice (#21129) for the booklets in this auction (and a few other items purchased at the same time but not included in this auction). I believe that this invoice was written by an employee at The Dungeon Hobby Shop, one of the early mail-order distributors for D&D. The Dungeon shared a building with TSR Hobbies from 1978-1981. Based on the items listed on the invoice and their prices, I think this invoice dates from 1982. The shipping label portion is missing (of course), and the invoice is normally folded in half to fit inside the OCE box.

• a coupon originally worth "$2.00 off any purchase of $25.00 or more, good through the Dungeon Distributors Mail Order". Appears to be a photocopy. (However, it is not a photocopy of the coupon; the original coupon is itself a photocopy.)

Final Thoughts

Thank you for viewing this auction. I've been carefully carrying this box with me from move to move for close to twenty years, and although I sold most of the rest of my Dungeons and Dragons stuff years ago, this is one of the few things I had held on to. However, since my wife and I have five cats between us and are considering having children, I think it's finally time to say goodbye to this before it gets lost or damaged.

Hopefully the photos included with this auction are enough, but if anyone would like a more detailed photo of any of the items or their few imperfections, I'd be happy to oblige.

P.S. I know when Gary Gygax passed away earlier this year a lot of people began selling old D&D items to "cash in" on all the publicity. Gary was a brilliant and creative man, and I think far too highly of him to exploit his memory to raise the price of some stupid auction, so I waited several months before listing these items. May he rest in peace.