OD&D: the (white) box

A comprehensive reading of OD&D has to begin not just with the text, but with the box itself, because the cover art frames the kind of fantasy the game is inviting players to imagine before a single rule is read. The imagery signals tone, genre, and even implied style of play. 

Notably, there were at least two distinct box versions: an earlier one that looks wooden, with an illustration depicting a mounted fighter in a heroic pose; and a later one, the famous white box showing an aged mage blasting a bunch of goblins or kobolds (at this point, these the creatures were difficult to tell apart). 

The earlier woodgrain version. Image from Wasteland Fantasy.

The later white version. Image captured from a pdf rerelease.