OD&D Reprint Previews

The contents. Source: Steve Winter on Facebook

The boxed set reprinting the original D&D set and the first four supplements is set to be released just before Christmas this year, pushed back from November. The cover art of each booklet has been updated in a 'modern' style, but the interior text and art is supposed to be mostly unchanged from the originals, similar to the AD&D hardback reprints.

Steve Winter of The Howling Tower blog and a former TSR employee, received his copy on his last day of his current contract work for Wizards, and posted pictures of it on FB. The set comes in a wooden box featuring an anachronistic '80s D&D ampersand on the cover:

 

The box cover. Source: Steve Winter on Facebook

The interior of the lid features new artwork of a wizard casting, which as pointed out by Falconer on OD&D Discussion is meant to be an updated version of the 'white box' cover (4th+ printing of OD&D):

Inside the Box. Source: Steve Winter on Facebook

Original 'White Box' cover. Source: The Acaeum

And over on the Wizards website, Bart Carroll has been running a series, "OD&D Excerpts", previewing the new booklets and showing comparisons of the covers with the originals. The original Volumes I-III and Supplements I-IV have been renumbered as Books I-VII:

Book I: Men & Magic
Book II: Monsters & Treasure
Book III: The Underworld & Wilderness Adventures
Book IV: Greyhawk
Book V: Blackmoor
Book VI: Eldritch Wizardry
Book VII: Gods, Demigods & Heroes

The set also includes a reprint of the Reference Sheets from the original box and two sets of dice, but does not include Chainmail, the miniatures rules that D&D grew out of, or Swords & Spells, the D&D miniatures rules that are often considered Supplement V.

From these previews, we can see they are correcting some minor typos, such as changing "Forward" in the original Men & Magic to "Foreword". 

I can't say I am a fan of the updated artwork, but it is nice to see OD&D back in print and in the public eye.

For more discussion visit the OD&D Discussion thread, WOTC reprinting OD&D.