Just curious - when & why did the style of the Basic/Expert D&D books change

[Erekose]

I originally started playing D&D with the Basic and Expert sets in 1983 (the Moldvay versions) and then relatively soon after switched to AD&D when it becam available in the UK.

My question is that I've subsequently seen later printings of the Master and Immortals books and they are structured very differently.

To be specific the Basic and Expert books that I had were designed so that you could cut the books down the spin and "create" in a folder a larger "book" that would have continuing chapter on character classes, monsters, etc.

When and why did this change? Presumably this happened prior to the publication of the full Basic, Expert, Companion, Masters and Immortals to complete the set?

I appreciate cutting up books may not be popular but there was something appealing about the original assumption that does make me feel quite nostalgic about it!

 

[Delta]

1983, with the Mentzer edition that TSR at one point referred to as "Third Edition of the Basic Set" (or Fourth). Acaeum.com identifies it as the 12th revision of the Basic set. The hole-punched books were a fairly short-lived experiment from 1981-1982 (revisions 8-11).

http://acaeum.com/ddindexes/setpages/basic.html

 

[Erekose]

Thanks for the website.

As for the entry:

Twelfth (1983)
* Third Revision of the Basic Set rules, coinciding with the release of Set 3: Companion Rules (the D&D Expert Set was also updated at this time)
* Entitled Basic Rules Set 1. Solid red box depicting a red dragon fighting a single warrior; box artwork by Larry Elmore. Angled TSR logo on back cover reads "TSR Hobbies, Inc.", and Product Number is in lower right
* 64-page Player’s Manual and a 48-page Dungeon Master’s Rulebook (both have identical artwork to the box cover)
* Six uncolored dice in a small poly bag and a dice crayon. One set has been spotted with six pre-colored dice and no crayon
* Cleverly, no module is included (though there are two scenarios in the rulebooks). The Seventh print of B2 Keep on the Borderlands (with the cardboard header attached) is available separately

If memory serves, the version I have was the red box but was called the "Basic Set", had a single booklet, and did come with the Keep on the Borderlands?

The Expert Set I have followed a similar format. From the acaeum website I can't work out if it was the 2nd or 3rd printing.

 

[Delta]

It would be 8th-11th printing.