Howdy All,


While doing some research in the Arneson Archive I came across an audit of TSR done in September of 1978 and it revealed the following information about print runs for various products.

Note: It does not include information prior to November 1975. Also the printing does not always match the Acaeum print number. The dates are the delivery invoice dates when specific or the month delivered when non-specific--sometimes an order was delivered or picked up in several batches. Sometimes a printer was indicated, other times, not.

Finally, consider that this was an audit by a third party, so there is the potential that they they did not have access to all records.

Title--Printing--Date--Run Size--Printer
D&D--4th--19751124--5,000--Patch
D&D--5th--19760907--9,691--Tempco
D&D--6th--19770429--9,766--Tempco
D&D--6th--19770614--260--Tempco--listed as a delayed delivery
D&D--7th--19780130--12,000--Tempco
D&D--8th--19780700--10,000--Tempco
D&D Basic (Book Only)--1st--19770700--5,000--Patch
D&D Basic (Book Only)--2nd--19780900--2,960--Patch--this is likely a partial delivery
D&D Basic Set--1st--19770700--10,000--Patch
D&D Basic Set--2nd--19780100--15,000--Patch
D&D Basic Set--3rd--19780700--15,000--Patch
AD&D Monster Manual--1st--19780100--10,000--Patch
AD&D Monster Manual--2nd--19780700--14,904--Patch
AD&D Players Handbook--1st--19780800--10,000--Patch
Greyhawk--3rd--19760100--3,000--
Greyhawk--4th--19760700--5,000--
Greyhawk--5th--19770300--5,025--
Greyhawk--6th--19770900--2,915--
Greyhawk--7th--19771200--5,000--
Greyhawk--8th--19780200--5,000--
Greyhawk--9th--19780600--9,584--Patch
Blackmoor--1st--19751200--5,000--
Blackmoor--2nd--19760700--5,000--
Blackmoor--3rd--19770500--5,083--
Blackmoor--4th--19771200--5,000--
Blackmoor--5th--19780300--5,000--
Blackmoor--6th--19780800--5,736--
Gods, Demigods, & Heroes--1st--19760700--7,500--
Gods, Demigods, & Heroes--2nd--19770500--5,000--
Gods, Demigods, & Heroes--3rd--19780200--5,000--
Gods, Demigods, & Heroes--4th--19780500--4,680--
Gods, Demigods, & Heroes--4th--19780900--354----listed as a delayed delivery


Futures Bright,

Paul

Awesome stuff Paul. Thank you for the research.

Cheers,
Curt

Thanks Paul!  It's fun to see some numbers.  I appreciate your research.

Howdy Zach,


You are welcome! There is some other information in there like sales records and some bits about Don't Give Up the Ship. Not sure of their value on a site like this.

Zenopus wrote in TSR Printing Records:I assume that this should be in 1977 or 1978. Is the "0900" correct? e.g., 19770900.
1977 would make it very early, considering the title page of the 2nd states Jan 1978.

Fixed.

Zenopus wrote in TSR Printing Records:The 3rd printing of the boxed set is two months (July) after the title page date (May 1978)

Correct.

Zenopus wrote in TSR Printing Records:
This mostly likely has a type in it as well, since the Monster Manual wasn't out until the end of 1977 at the earliest. If the correct number is "19780100", it would suggest it wasn't actually available until Jan 1978 at the earliest.

Fixed and correct!

Thanks for catching those typos!



Futures Bright,

Paul

Great stuff Paul, thanks very much for the info!

10,000 is not rare.
Something less than 100 is rare.
Something less than 25 is very rare.
Those would be my ballpark approximations.

Howdy All,


Well, instead of mowing my lawn today, I just decided to go ahead and put the sales records in there too. An asterisk means that it is an estimated number based on available stock and royalties paid (although this in fact is not a simple calculation as the D&D set had a "Job Lot" price of $4.50, a "Wholesale" price of $6.00, and a "Retail" price of $10. Blackmoor and Greyhawk had a "Job Lot" price of $2.25, a "Wholesale" price of $3.00, and a "Retail" price of $5. So too the royalty amounts were not standard by product or through time, e.g., Gary and Dave initially got 10% *each*, then Gary and Brian told Dave that was too much and they made him sign and agreement to take half of the original starting in April, 1975. Then, as with Warriors of Mars, Gary got 15% and Brian Blume got 5%. So, not very simple calculations, even with the royalty figures.

"Returns", I think means returns of retail sales or discounted sales (job lot or wholesale). I do not know what C.T.P.I. means but I am guessing it means "Can't Track Per Inventory", at a guess.

Original D&D--Printings--Sales--Returns--C.T.P.I.--Notes
74 Q1--1,000--81--0--0--
74 Q2--0--194*--0--0--
74 Q3--0--266--0--0--
74 Q4--0--362--0--0--
75 Q1--1,000--455*--0--0--
75 Q2--2,000--496*--0--0--
75 Q3--0--795*--0--0--655 copies purchased by TSR Hobbies from Tactical Studies Rules on 9/26/75
75 Q4--5,000--1,255--0--0--
76 Q1--0--1,498--1--0--
76 Q2--0--2,229--0--0--
76 Q3--9,691--2,240--12--0--
76 Q4--0--2,482--0--0--
77 Q1--0--3,276--0--789--
77 Q2--10,000--3,160--0--0--
77 Q3--0--3,555--0--0--
77 Q4--0--3,744--97--0--
78 Q1--12,000--5,226--246--0--
78 Q2--0--4,157--0--0--
78 Q3--10,000--5,524--0--2,111--As of 9/30/1978 there were 50,691 copies printed, 40,995 sold, 356 returned, 2,900 C.T.P.I., 6,197 remaining, and 243 unaccounted for.

D&D Basic (Book Only)--Printings--Sales--Returns--C.T.P.I.--Notes
77 Q3--5,000--524--0--0--
77 Q4--0--1,431--0--0--
78 Q1--0--834--74--0--
78 Q2--0--769--0--0--
78 Q3--2,960--1,533--0--0--As of 9/30/1978 there were 7,960 copies printed, 5,091 sold, 74 returned, 0 C.T.P.I., 2,943 remaining, and -74 unaccounted for.

D&D Basic Set----Sales--Returns--C.T.P.I.--Notes
77 Q3--10,000--2,473--0--0--
77 Q4--0--5,452--0--0--
78 Q1--15,000--5,572--0--0--
78 Q2--0--6,783--0--0--
78 Q3--15,000--11,426--0--0--As of 9/30/1978 there were 40,000 copies printed, 31,706 sold, 0 returned, 0 C.T.P.I., 10,127 remaining, and -1,833 unaccounted for.

D&D Greyhawk--Printings--Sales--Returns--C.T.P.I.--Notes
75 Q1--1,000*--36*--???--???--
75 Q2--0--363*--???--???--
75 Q3--1,000*--723*--0--0--248+475; 1,585 copies purchased by TSR Hobbies from Tactical Studies Rules
75 Q4--0--954--0--0--
76 Q1--3,000--1,207--1--0--
76 Q2--0--1,524--0--0--
76 Q3--5,000--1,451--6--0--
76 Q4--0--1,716--0--0--
77 Q1--5,025--2,246--0--454--
77 Q2--0--2,772--0--0--
77 Q3--2,915--2,772--0--0--
77 Q4--5,000--3,782--5--204--
78 Q1--5,000--3,926--0--0--
78 Q2--9,584--4,138--0--0--
78 Q3--0--4,229--0--0--As of 9/30/1978 there were 37,524 copies printed, 31,839 sold, 12 returned, 658 C.T.P.I., 4,814 remaining, and 213 unaccounted for.

D&D Blackmoor--Printings--Sales--Returns--C.T.P.I.--Notes
75 Q3--0--101--0--0--
75 Q4--5,000--1,725--0--0--
76 Q1--0--1,327--2--0--
76 Q2--0--1,308--8--0--
76 Q3--5,000--1,227--6--0--
76 Q4--0--1,205--0--0--
77 Q1--0--1,838--0--400--
77 Q2--5,083--1,813--0--0--
77 Q3--0--2,190--0--0--
77 Q4--5,000--2,672--10--0--
78 Q1--5,000--2,695--0--0--
78 Q2--0--2,941--0--0--
78 Q3--5,736--3,990--0--0--As of 9/30/1978 there were 30,819 copies printed, 25,032 sold, 26 returned, 400 C.T.P.I., 5,413 remaining, and -26 unaccounted for.

D&D Gods, Demigods and Heroes--Printings--Sales--Returns--C.T.P.I.--Notes
76 Q3--7,500--3,271--0--0--
76 Q4--0--1,270--0--0--
77 Q1--0--1,485--0--1,001--
77 Q2--5,000--1,138--0--0--
77 Q3--0--1,544--0--0--
77 Q4--0--1,978--0--0--
78 Q1--3,000--2,130--0--0--
78 Q2--4,680--1,758--0--0--
78 Q3--354--2,720--0--0--As of 9/30/1978 there were 20,534 copies printed, 17,294 sold, 0 returned, 1001 C.T.P.I., 2,239 remaining, and 0 unaccounted for.

AD&D Monster Manual--Printings--Sales--Returns--C.T.P.I.--Notes
78 Q1--10,000--4,683--0--0--
78 Q2--0--4,088--0--0--
78 Q3--14,904--5,082--30--0--As of 9/30/1978 there were 24,904 copies printed, 13,853 sold, 30 returned, 0 C.T.P.I., 11,051 remaining, and 0 unaccounted for.

AD&D Player's Handbook--Printings--Sales--Returns--C.T.P.I.--Notes
78 Q2--10,000--10,711--0--0--
78 Q3--0--0--0--0--As of 9/30/1978 there were 10000 copies printed, 10,711 sold, 0 returned, 0 C.T.P.I., 0 remaining, and -711 unaccounted for.

Don't Give Up the Ship--Printings--Sales--Returns--C.T.P.I.--Notes
75 Q2--0--38--0--0--
75 Q3--5,000--259--0--0--
75 Q4--0--373--0--0--
76 Q1--0--224--2--0--
76 Q2--0--141--0--0--
76 Q3--0--147--0--0--
76 Q4--0--131--8--0--
77 Q1--0--146--0--169--
77 Q2--0--127--0--0--
77 Q3--0--0--0--0--
77 Q4--0--0--0--0--
78 Q1--0--0--0--0--
78 Q2--0--0--0--0--
78 Q3--0--0--0--0--As of 9/30/1978 there were 5,000 copies printed, 169 returned, 1,586 sold, 3,235 remaining, and 10 unaccounted for.


Futures Bright,

Paul

I own Dave Arneson's original contract for Blackmoor signed, dated & sealed by Gary Gygax and Brian Blume on 10/18/1975. Dave Arneson was indeed to receive a 5% royalty for each book sold.

Howdy Bill,

stratochamp wrote in TSR Printing Records:I own Dave Arneson's original contract for Blackmoor signed, dated & sealed by Gary Gygax and Brian Blume on 10/18/1975. Dave Arneson was indeed to receive a 5% royalty for each book sold.

Just a couple of months after that contract, after getting the messed up pile of Blackmoor notes that had to be heavily edited and re-written or wholly written anew by Rob Kuntz, Tim Kask, Steve Marsh, and Brian Blume, Dave lost that Royalty. To make up for the Blackmoor disaster, and wipe the slate clean, Dave was given stock in early 1976 and never held the copyright or received royalties for Blackmoor again.


Futures Bright,

Paul

Many details like this will be delineated in Jon Peterson's new book The Game Wizards which is coming out next month.