I bought the AD&D reprints. Yes, I still own my originals, though apart from the DMG, I didn't actually own the earlier printings. My buddies and I were highly communal when it came to gaming books, and we'd often photocopy the sections of the books we needed, or even hand-copy passages. As a result, I only owned a 1st printing DMG in high school, and then shortly afterwards, I discovered RuneQuest/BRP and didn't play a lick of D&D for another four or five years. I finally purchased a full set of the books (the ones with the Easley covers) around xmas 1985, with my holiday bonus from work (I worked at a book store, so we got our bonus in the form of gift certificates. Between them and my employee discount, I think I picked up one of every hardback they'd published up to that point.)
I'm very easy on books, so my AD&D hardbacks are still in excellent shape. So, I really didn't need these. But they're pretty (on the outside anyway; the insides are the same as ever, though printed on slick paper, which just feels weird), and I'm entirely supportive of efforts to memorialize the Big G. in the form of statuary, so I succumbed.
When I was checking out, the guy at the shop mentioned they were selling like hotcakes. I made a joke about nostalgia being a powerful motivator, and he said that a number of folks he'd spoken to were buying them because they want to play 1e. Looking at them, I kind of want to as well.
Great post title -- my wife actually said the exact same thing. Good to hear that people are buying the books because they want to play 1e. That's awesome.
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