Was the Holmes Basic Rulebook Sold Separately?

 

Source: Tome of Treasures

There have been a few discussions on Dragonsfoot lately, including this one, about whether the early D&D Basic and Expert rulebooks were sold separately from the boxed sets, which spurred me to post some pictures that show, for Holmes Basic and B/X (Moldvay Basic and Cook-Marsh Expert), that the answer is yes.

For example, above is a section from a 1978 TSR Catalog hawking the "BASIC SET of DUNGEONS & DRAGONS", "complete in a full color bookshelf-sized box", for $9.95...but also the rulebook "only" for an even $5. (Incidentally, I'd love a better scan of this catalog entry if anyone has or can make one that is higher resolution and/or not water-stained).

As reported by Jon Peterson back in 2021, the almost $5 price difference actually played a pivotal role in Dave Arneson's lawsuit against TSR, as "Arneson learned that he was not being paid his expected 5% royalty on the $10 cover price of the whole Basic Set, but instead only on the copy of the Basic D&D rulebook that shipped in the box, which then sold separately for $5". Read Jon's article for the full story.

Here's another piece of ephemera, also from 1978, again showing the availability of each item separately. It's the first page of an Order Blank - an order form - for the Dungeon Hobby Shop from April 1978, which shows the boxed set and separate rulebook available for the same prices, and also provides the TSR Stock Numbers - 1001 for the boxed set, and 2001 for the rulebook. These are the same numbers printed on the products starting with the 2nd printing, dated Jan 1978.

Source: image from Ebay auction

Four years later, and the 1982 Dungeon Hobby Shop catalog has both products still available for sale, but at a deep discount because they have been superseded by the revised Moldvay Basic set. The boxed set now has a product code of T1001, a $10 original price (5 cents higher than above), a $6 sale price, and is described as "Original DUNGEONS & DRAGONS Basic Set. Contains all the rules need to play D&D game adventures". The rulebook has a product code of T2001, a $5 original price, a $2.50 sale price, and is described as "D&D Booklet (Original). The original booklet found in the D&D Basic Set. This product is no longer in print!".

(Incidentally, 1982 is when I received my Holmes Basic Set. Did my parents get it for me because it was on sale?)

Image Source: Battlegrip.com

Here are two pages from one version of the 1981 TSR Gateway to Adventure catalog which show the separate entries for the B/X boxed sets (stock numbers 1011 and 1012) and the stand alone rulebooks (stock numbers 2014 and 2015).

And these stand-alone rulebooks weren't only available for mail order purchase. As T. Foster reports on Dragonsfoot (here): "I can confirm that I purchased the 1981 Expert rulebook as a standalone for $6 at a Waldenbooks store" and "I also purchased the Holmes Basic book as a standalone at a Toys R Us store sometime around 1986 - no idea why they still had it on the shelf when it had been officially out of print for ~5 years..."

The next iteration of Basic, aka Mentzer Basic, arrived in 1983 and changed the rulebook more radically, splitting the material between two booklets, one for Players and one for DMs. This change meant that the rulebooks needed to be sold together, so TSR didn't offer a stand-alone rulebook for this iteration of Basic.