There was one on Ebay a few weeks ago. It could've been yours for just $589....!  


** expired/removed eBay auction **


Seriously, I haven't tracked these in years, since I bought my copy - just a worn rulebook with writing and missing the reference sheet.

The scarcity may reflect the size of the print run:

Frank Mentzer on Dragonsfoot in 2008 wrote:
Before '77 a large print run in gaming was 10,000. A huge run was 50k, and iirc that's what 1st print Holmes was, maybe 2nd print as well. Most of the reprints were 100,000 each (I think Law mentions this in Heroic Worlds) except for the last one (down to 50-75k iirc since TSR was planning a new version). [Source]

Looking at Heroic Worlds, I do see a mention of the Holmes Basic Set generally being printed in runs of 100,000 on page 26. The print runs for this number are not specified. Perhaps the first print run was even lower than Frank recalls, only 10,000?

Some trivia about the first print:
The 1st print was sold for at least six months, from July 77 to Jan 78 (date of the 2nd print).
The first sales were at conventions in the summer (Origins, GenCon) - thanks to Jon Peterson for finding evidence for this.
The first advertisement in Dragon was in Sep 77; the next in Jan 78.

Thork N Hammer wrote:How few of these do you think exist?
Or do any, that you know of?
.

Mine's not for sale, but if you just want to know what's out there I think I have one. It says Hobbits instead of Halflings, right? Based on the price sticker it was bought from Nan's Games in the Houston Galleria as the $5 booklet only (rather than in a box).

There's more than just some Hobbit references. Its got the original wonky wandering tables, and some other stuff.

The 2nd print still has some references to "hobbits" that were later changed, but not nearly as many as the 1st print. As stratochamp mentioned, the easiest way to tell is the stock code in the upper right corner of the front cover.

Thork:

I have been in the collecting D&D game for only a couple of years, and I found one on Ebay. They don't come up often; you got to spend some time looking for them. I have seen maybe three more in the past two years, including the one in shrink Zenopus brought up (crazy price, by the way). I got mine for about $40 in Good condition overall, without the dice. I bought dice elsewhere and frankensteined it (it's for me, anyway).

Just be patient; you'll find one.

Hector.

Is it not the Holmes edition that was printed as a soft cover in the UK?

I know that is one I would love to have.

Sardan wrote:

copycat wrote:Is it not the Holmes edition that was printed as a soft cover in the UK?

I know that is one I would love to have.

Me too. The UK Holmes is probably the rarest item I am interested in.

I thought I saw a UK 4th print on ebay yesterday--NobleKnights has it.

Thanks for all the positive assist fellas.
Its nice to have a forum where the members are mutually respectful and like to help one another.

My copy appears to be a 7th according to the site here's description, although I have 6 coloured dice inc a D10, along with the chits.

I'm curious as to what the UK set was like, seeing as I'm here? I wonder if my copy, although in very good condition, is actually an amalgam of more than one set now...