Which WORLD OF GREYHAWK box set do you have? (Photos of the two versions)

I’ve been dimly aware that there were two printings of the World of Greyhawk box set, mostly because of the maps, which are essentially identical. But they’re folded differently, with one set folded into smaller squares.

I like ’em: The “square maps” have a pebbly texture to them. Very tactile. I’d always assumed square-maps was the later printing, since the box set’s predecessor, the original WoG folio, has the maps folded into a large format.

Wrong.

The Acaeum page for the World of Greyhawk goes into the differences to what they term the 7th & 8th printings. The variations are trivial, the most noticeable being the maps (the 7th has the small square maps), and Gary Gygax being credited on the box cover of the 8th printing (under “FANTASY GAME SETTING”)… There you go, squint… you see it now…

Anyhow, now I know why I see different maps in these sets. Now, not all 7th prints have the little square fold maps; I’ve seen them with the larger-fold format as well. The “Gygax” on the box lid is key.

It’s not clear to me why the Acaeum curators deemed these box sets to be subsequent (“7th” & “8th”) prints of the Folio, as opposed to the reality that they are 1st & 2nd printings of the 2nd edition of WoG. The Catalogue book in the box even notes itself to be the Second Edition.

In the book trade, a “Printing” is just that, a subsequent print run, with a few trivial changes (typically errata & corrections), or usually none at all, just a straight reprinting.

A new “Edition” has substantial revisions compared with prior editions. The World Greyhawk Box Set is very much expanded and altered from the Folio, and would definitely constitute a new edition.

To be fair, TSR itself frequently erred on Editions vs Printings.

I’ll stick with the Acaeum’s designations to avoid confusion.

EDIT 22 March 2021: New Title. Updated and changed out the photos. Added affiliate search links.

12 May 2025: Discussion of printing vs edition error.

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