Deities & Demigods is one of the most storied AD&D books ever produced, and now some lucky bidder may end up with the hand-typed manuscript that started it all. Deities & Demigods was a source of some controversy for TSR, which led to different versions of the sourcebook being printed. The original 1980 version of Deities & Demigods included characters from the Lovecraft mythos and characters from Michael Moorcock's original Elric series (see "Druillet on Moorcock in New Titan 'Elric' Volume").
TSR had permission to print these characters via the Lovecraft license holder and Moorcock, but Chaosium pinned them with a cease and desist order because their company had subsequently acquired the licenses to the included characters. After some negotiation, TSR agreed to credit Chaosium in later printings, but then, removed the disputed characters from Deities & Demigods entirely.
Jim Ward, the co-designer of the Gamma World RPG, was the author who created the original non-human deities for Deities & Demigods. Many of these deities have become standard features in later D&D books. The eBay manuscript being auctioned is stated to contain a handwritten note by Ward authenticating the documents and offering background on them. This auction will end on June 18 at 8:15 PM.