This is it. The original. So much history are in these booklets.
All the essentials of D&D are here, along with some oddities – holdovers from the war-gaming background.
Absolutely fascinating.
For more detail – see my reviews of each individual booklet:
Product history at DriveThruRPG.
Date Information
January 1974 is a fairly solid date. The Acaeum, Tome of Treasures and Enworld all have January as the month.
Picture Information
No, I don’t have a woodgrain unfortunately. But at least I have a 4th or 5th printing in addition to an OCE.