The item referenced above has been acquired by yours truly. In general, I’m pretty impressed with the overall quality, and hopefully the pix below communicate some of that.
The only real downside to this purchase is that there’s a ripped page in the Greyhawk book and to get it replaced I have to send the whole damned box set back to WotC. Which I will obviously do, since this wasn’t exactly a cheap purchase. I’m just glad I decided to take pictures right after getting this, since I might have missed that for a long time.
Anyway, enjoy the pix and may they guide you to the right choice if you’re still trying to decide about picking this thing up. And yes, any new readers, those are original books I’m showing in the comparison photos. They’re not from 1974 or anything, but they are from the Original Collector’s Edition I picked up at Origins ’84*.
Oh, and while they did indeed put new cover art on all of the books (which some folks seem to be very up in arms about, but doesn’t bother me at all), they left all of the original internal art alone as near as I can tell. I’ve tried to reflect that in the pix, hence the gratuitous focus on the topless pieces 🙂
*But Venomous Pao, why would you buy this reprint when you already had an OCE?
Because the OCE doesn’t have any of the supplements, of course. Those things fetch some pretty absurd prices if you want ’em. And while I do have those in PDF from way back when they were legally available, having print copies is a lovely thing indeed.
Very nice. Sorry to hear about the ripped page, though.
I should be getting mine soon, since I pre-ordered it from amazon about 6 months ago. This is definitely a luxury item, as well as, a future collector’s piece. We buy this stuff because it’s inherently awesome. Also, the nostalgia factor doesn’t hurt. 😉
Thanks, VS. And thanks for the sympathy, too. It’s a definite bummer, especially since I was looking forward to digging into this a bunch over the upcoming 4-day weekend. Oh well, since the collector factor is there (not to mention the not insignificant price) I must indeed return it for a replacement.
And I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiment of inherent awesomeness.
Cheers!
Very nice! Thanks for posting these photographs, especially the comparisons.
You’re most welcome, amigo! Glad to have been able to share.
Because the OCE doesn’t have any of the supplements, of course. Those things fetch some pretty absurd prices if you want ‘em. And while I do have those in PDF from way back when they were legally available, having print copies is a lovely thing indeed.
I completely get buying it and plan on getting one myself.
That said, I also have the PDFs (and most of the books from bitd although a few went missing over time) and have found making my own booklets a lot of fun. Several people have drawn up instructions and you can do your own covers and such.
Even after I get my wood box I suspect my homemade booklets will be the at the table set.
But looking at the pictures it’s beautiful.
I’ve always meant to do the “DIY” books with my PDFs. That’s definitely how I’d approach playing at the table for sure. Can’t risk these expensive books when mountain dew and cheetos are involved, after all 🙂
I’m glad you dug the pix, Herb. Cheers!