Taking a light week to tackle the orange spine reprints of the original Advanced Dungeons & Dragons rulebooks (I covered most of the original editions of these last year, should you want to read more). They first appearing in 1983, boasting new cover art by Jeff Easley. The interior text is identical to the originals in every way, preserving the many typos and errors from earlier editions. The first printing of the new versions (the 10th edition) even failed to change the name of the cover artist, while later printings retained the original copyright dates (which can make a mess of things on the secondary market).

The orange spines mark a move from hobby publishing to a more professional and consistent trade dress, aimed at getting shelf space in mainstream bookstores. Aside of the cover art, the most important change is the big, clean and identifiable logo, sporting the stylized, fire-breathing dragon ampersand that would become the icon of D&D for years to come.

This, of course, is the Players Handbook. We’ve got an old Merliny sort of mage (Ringlerun, is that you?) fighting some winged critters. As these things go, not the most exciting cover art, especially compared to Dave Trampier’s iconic idol.