Short answers, pulled from the story.
Gary Gygax wrote the first Players Handbook, a 128-page hardcover released in June 1978, edited by Mike Carr with cover art by D.A. Trampier. Trampier and David C. Sutherland III also provided the interior illustrations.
The Player's Handbook contains rules for players, including character creation, class abilities, equipment costs, and spell descriptions. The Dungeon Master's Guide contains additional rules used only by the Dungeon Master, the person who referees the game.
Wizards of the Coast released the 5th Edition Player's Handbook on the 19th of August 2014. Tyler Jacobson painted its cover, depicting King Snurre from The Hall of the Fire Giant King adventure module. The book sold 22,090 units in its first tracked week and won the 2015 Origins Award for Best Role Playing Game.
BookScan reported 3,773 copies sold in the United States. Data analyst Scott Thorne said that figure excluded most hobby game store sales and the roughly 3,000 copies sold directly at Gen Con. Wizards of the Coast called it the fastest-selling Dungeons & Dragons product ever.
Gary Gygax was forced out of TSR by the end of 1985, and his plans for a second edition were abandoned as a result. Editor Steve Winter and designer David "Zeb" Cook later redeveloped the edition from scratch, releasing the 2nd edition Player's Handbook in February 1989.
The 2nd edition Player's Handbook (1989) dropped the assassin and monk classes and removed some races such as half-orcs. The 3rd edition Player's Handbook (2000) brought half-orcs and monks back. The first 4th edition Player's Handbook (2008) again left out the monk, bard, gnome, and half-orc. Those classes and races returned in the later Player's Handbook 2 and 3 volumes.