It looks like Wizards of the Coast now has the cover images for their first edition AD&D Player’s Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide and Monster Manual on their web site:
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Hm. Well, I have to admit that I’m not all that impressed. But I’m hoping that they’ll look cooler at full size and in person. I’ve already pre-ordered my copies!
Edit: You know, looking at them some more, I think they’re better-looking than I first thought. I like the nods to the originals while still being clearly different. And as a commenter on EN World pointed out, they sure would look nifty if they were actual leather…
I think they look pretty classy. It’s funny that they crop out the scantly clad woman from the demon’s (devil’s?) hands on the cover of the DMG. That was hard to explain as a kid to my parents and would be hard to explain as a parent to my kids. They addressed this with the second printing of the AD&D DMG that had the alternative “necropolis” cover. That cover never quite felt like the DMG to me (I have both covers), so I think this solution of using the “censored” original art is a nice compromise.
I like the look. It is different enough so that people who own the originals can readily been seen to own an original, but they still evoke/pay homage to the original covers.
Hopefully they’ll actually be leatherbound and embossed for what they’re charging, but I’ll probably pick them up regardless. 🙂
Ooh… that would be pretty slick.