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I know there are quite a few editions of Dungeons and Dragons (D&D), each of which has loads of rules, source, and splat books.

But how do I know which edition the books I'm looking at are for?

A lot of the time the ones in hobby stores are wrapped up, or you'll buy from elsewhere that doesn't say in the description, and the covers just say D&D.

Is there a way to identify which edition of D&D the books I'm buying are for, either from the cover or some description in the book?

For the purposes of this question I'm asking about core rule books only. Eg. PHB, MM, and DMG. Hopefully the answer to this can be carried over to other books.

The D&D logo or rear blurb is your best guide

Look at the logo at the top of the front cover. In short, a small red "D&D" logo means 5th edition, a large red "Dungeons & Dragons" logo means 4th edition, "Dungeons & Dragons" with a sword through it is 3rd edition. A product code near the barcode beginning with a single letter also indicates 5th edition.

Many books also explicitly state their edition on the rear blurb.

More detailed list

• 
  D&D 5th edition: The core rulebooks have "D&D" printed at the top in red, followed by the name of the book in white. The text at the rear of the books will say "fifth edition". This is generally true for other books of the edition, except for the special cover versions.


• 
  D&D 4th edition: The core rulebooks say "Dungeons & Dragons" at the top in red, followed by the book title in a smaller font on a blue horizontal banner. The rear of the book will note that they are for use with 4th edition. There was also an Essentials product line, which is marked Essentials on the front cover. Many 4e books also have an advertisement for the D&D Insider service on the back.


• 
  D&D 3rd edition: The core rulebooks and most sourcebooks have a "Dungeons & Dragons" logo drawn upon a brass plate with a horizontal sword through it. The books tend to be styled as if a physical book inlaid with gems and such (interestingly, this isn't CG; they made physical models and photographed them), although not all books are styled this way (e.g. Draconomicon uses full-page art). The core rulebooks for D&D 3.5 will say "v.3.5" on the front.


• 
  AD&D 2e: Will clearly say "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition" on the front cover. The late-90s book have an iconic black border. The 2000s special reprints have a unique cover.


• 
  AD&D 1e: Will say "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons", but will not note the edition, as second edition had not yet been invented. You are unlikely to encounter these still on sale.


• 
  OD&D, Basic, Expert, etc: You are unlikely to see physical copies of these on sale. They're usually softcover books published by TSR rather than Wizards. (Note that some D&D 3rd edition books still had a product code beginning with TSR even though they were published by Wizards.)

The only ambiguous books you are likely to encounter are the special edition versions of 5th edition books, which eschew the usual branding for special artwork; these can be clearly identified by the product ID codes listed near the barcode, which begin with a letter rather than a number.

When shopping online, looking at the product release date will also help identify the books. For the core rulebooks that's 2000 (3e), 2003 (3.5), 2008 (4e) and 2014 (5e).