White Dwarf Nos 1-12, £800 at Special Auction Services.
The main British company responsible for this trend, Games Workshop of Nottingham, is now one of the biggest in the UK.
It was launched by three friends in a west London flat – the first shop opened in Hammersmith in 1978 – with a breakthrough via a distribution deal for the US Dungeons & Dragons game.
A key factor in building demand and a loyal fanbase was White Dwarf, a magazine devoted to role-playing games and then the Warhammer empire established by the company.
Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, two of the friends who formed Games Workshop, launched the mag in 1977 based on their previous newsletter called Owl & Weasel which ran for 25 copies from 1975.
While the miniature figures also produced are becoming collectable in their own right, a lot offered at Special Auction Services (20% buyer’s premium) of Newbury on January 16 showed early copies of the still-thriving mag are in demand too.
A set of issues 1 to 12 in the official binder marked White Dwarf Vol.1 to the spine, from 1977, was described as “very scarce” with “only very minor edge wear/discolouration”.
Estimated at £600-800, it sold on the top estimate.
