FIRST copy of the AD&D Players Handbook (TRUE 1st Print) ever sold

That's right a TRUE 1st print with white endpapers, the first ever sold! Autographed and inscribed by Gary Gygax! The book is in solid condition but has a great deal of cover wear. One of the two perforated reference pages has been removed and is missing. The rest of the interior is in solid shape with a few stray spots and the occasional stray pen or pencil mark.

A unique item and a unique story! Tim Jiardini grew up in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, home to TSR and the birthplace of Dungeons and Dragons. During the summer of 1978, Tim saved and scraped money together to buy the soon to be released Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Player's handbook. Having played D&D with TSR's Dungeon Hobby Shop employee, Ernie Gygax, Tim found out that the AD&D Player's Handbook would be available for the first time and exclusively at The Dungeon Hobby Shop in early August and later that month they'd be available at GenCon XI and around the country. having test-played both the Paladin and Ranger classes, Tim was ecstatic for the arrival of the new book.

The first morning the Player's Handbook went on sale, a Saturday, Tim arrived 45 minutes prior to the store opening. The door opened right on time and Ernie Gygax ushered the 14 year old Tim into the store. Ernie opened a box of the Players Handbooks and handed one to Tim. After counting out his money, Ernie handed over the book to Tim and said, "That's the first one ever sold!" Ernie then asked Tim if he wanted it autographed and that "his dad" was right upstairs! Soon Gary Gygax came down and inscribed the book, "The FIRST copy sold! To Tim Jiardini", and autographed it "Gary Gygax".

For years Tim used the copy in regular play and then sometime thereafter the book became lost to time. Recently, however, after contacting the Collector's Trove and agreeing to allow me to auction his collection Tim sent me the following message: "I thought I was hallucinating when I found my old PHB that Gary had signed as the first sold copy. It's actually in pretty good shape. The cover shows some fading and wear, and inside there is a mark on a page or two, but otherwise it's very solid and very real. I truly thought my brother had destroyed this copy, but it must have been some other valued possession that he and his cretin friends had wrecked."