D&D Wood Grain      





http://cgi.ebay.com/D-D-original-wood-g ... dZViewItem



Enjoy ...

The problem with these posts is they are temporary...

we should be archiving this stuff somewhere for reference.

there's nothing more annoying than serching old posts and having all those dead links.

I can't see the forest for the Woodies!      



http://cgi.ebay.com/DUNGEONS-DRAGONS-19 ... dZViewItem



Timber!!!!

IttyBitty wrote:
Is it just a Woodie box with another edition of the books?  

yah... there's smtg wrong... woody box + 4th print booklets... simply an hybrid?

IttyBitty wrote:
Is it just a Woodie box with another edition of the books?  

It's a Third+ print:

http://www.acaeum.com/ddindexes/setpages/original.html

Deadlord39 wrote:So if you had a 3rd and 4th print, and swapped the books, would you have 3rd+ and 4th- prints?
I'm skeptical about the 3rd+ concept. It really isn't a separate PRINT, it is just the piecemealing of two separate print runs.

Dammit, where is David when you need him.  

Well there is no 4th- print anymore that was proven false as someone reported owning a set(s) with no prices of $3.50 on the bottom of the books, which turned out to be incorrect.  The old report 4th- is simply what we now know to be just the 4th Printing now.  No "official"sets were ever listed as a white box set with the earlier woodgrain style books in it.  For reference, here are the old descriptions for the 4th- and the 4th from the Internet Archive:

• Fourth Minus
  White box, showing a wizard and some orcs (artwork is now actually printed on the box) and the price ($10.00)
  Outside cover of Men & Magic shows a warrior standing with a sword and shield
  Outside covers of all three booklets have a price ($3.50)
  Inside covers of all three booklets are white, and state "Fourth Printing -- November 1975"
  References to Hobbits and Ents (see page 9 of Men & Magic) are still present
  Internal typeface is still rather rough and difficult to read
  Rear inside cover identifies the printer: Patch Press of Beloit, Wisconsin.  Also, a "TSR Hobbies, Inc" sticker covers the printed "Tactical Studies Rules"
  Yet another hybrid.  The first appearance of the white box, but containing the "true" Fourth print booklets (same booklets as in the Third Plus print above).  Again, TSR most likely took the first white boxes off the assembly line and mated them with the last batch of true Fourth print booklets. Three sets matching this description have so far been spotted, leading us to believe that it was more than a unique occurrence
  Thanks to Scott Gregg, John Huckerby, and David Wiley for this info
  
• Fourth
  White box, showing a wizard and some orcs (artwork is now actually printed on the box) and the price ($10.00)
  Outside cover of Men & Magic shows a warrior standing with a sword and shield
  Outside covers of all three booklets no longer bear the price ($3.50), and are a shade lighter in color
  Inside covers of all three booklets are white, and state "Fourth Printing -- November 1975"
  References to Hobbits and Ents (see page 9 of Men & Magic) are still present
  Internal typeface has been changed to a much-easier-to-read font
  This print originally came shrinkwrapped
  25,000 copies of this set were printed
  Note that the Fourth print booklets included with this set bear slight differences from the "true" Fourth print booklets included with the Third+ and Fourth Minus prints above: no price on the cover, and changed internal typeface
  Thanks to Curt Gould and Gary Gygax for help with this info

On that notion though, I agree thats its really not anything more than a hacked up Frankenstein job, but I do think that its not completely unreasonable to believe that a most sets out there like this, were actually in fact done at TSR.  I say this, because from collectors point of view, it would make absolutely no sense for some one to do this on purpose, as by doing so you would really only be devaluing your 3rd print set by putting your 4th print books into it.

Well, there's no question that things were thrown together/Frankensteined on a regular basis. Whether or not it was done at TSR really isn't the question. By definition, a PRINTING is a run of a particular item at the manufacturer. The 3rd+ sets are not printings, they are Frankensteins.

Deadlord39 wrote:Well, there's no question that things were thrown together/Frankensteined on a regular basis. Whether or not it was done at TSR really isn't the question. By definition, a PRINTING is a run of a particular item at the manufacturer. The 3rd+ sets are not printings, they are Frankensteins.

The Acaeum lists printings, but we want to retain this relevant information in some format.  The combination of box and booklets was apparently done prior to being sold, so perhaps a more accurate term would be "distribution", or "package".  Still, I think calling it the "3rd+ printing" is fairly unambiguous, even if not technically accurate.

If I had the money to spare, I'd have bought it already... because I want that box set, but that's me. I also don't have any of the other stuff (well, dice and pencils I have.)