Short answers, pulled from the story.
The first Player's Handbook hit store shelves in June 1978 and was written by Gary Gygax and edited by Mike Carr. This 128-page hardcover book focused exclusively on the player experience and introduced standard character classes like the cleric, druid, fighter, ranger, paladin, magic-user, illusionist, thief, assassin, and monk.
The 2nd Edition Player's Handbook released in February 1989 organized character classes into categories of warriors, wizards, priests, and rogues while removing the assassin and monk from the core rules. This edition also removed half-orcs from the game though these were later added back in supplements like The Complete Book of Humanoids.
The 3rd Edition Player's Handbook was published on the 10th of August 2000 with design credited to Jonathan Tweet and contributions from Monte Cook and Skip Williams. This edition saw the return of half-orcs and monks to the core rules set along with some all-new classes to make the game more combat-oriented.
The 4th Edition Player's Handbook was released on the 6th of June 2008 and was designed by Rob Heinsoo, Andy Collins, and James Wyatt. This book introduced the warlock and warlord classes and the dragonborn and tiefling races while leaving out previous core elements such as the monk and bard classes.
The 5th Edition Player's Handbook was released on the 19th of August 2014 by Wizards of the Coast and won the 2015 Origins Award for Best Role Playing Game and Fan Favorite Role Playing Game. It also won three 2015 gold ENnie Awards for Best Game, Best Rules, and Product of Year.
The backward compatible Player's Handbook 2024 was released globally on the 17th of September 2024 and became the fastest-selling Dungeons & Dragons product ever. BookScan reported a total of 3,773 copies sold in the U.S. from chain retailers and independent booksellers.