1997 Pocket Monsters Daihyakka #1, Ken Sugimori Cover, Beckett 9.4 (White)

The Daihyakka, or “great encyclopedia,” was published for Pokémon Red, Green, and Blue at the very beginning of the franchise, when the games were spreading by playground rumor and there was no other way to find out what a player had missed. Inside are the original 151 Pokémon—the visual foundation on which the franchise has been built ever since.

In 1997, the Daihyakka was the essential guide to the game. Made for the first generation of players, it was a paperback cheap enough to buy with an allowance–and was usually read until it fell apart. This copy predates virtually everything else in the auction.

The obi—the narrow paper band wrapped around the book—is retail packaging, not part of the book itself. It was designed to be removed and discarded, and almost universally was. Its survival on a thirty-year-old guide is exceptional.

This is a first edition, first printing, graded BGS 9.4 (White)—the highest grade recorded for the book and the highest-graded copy on the census.