The front cover of the book has a glued-on oval shaped picture, in most cases showcasing artwork by contemporary artists such as Frederic Remington (like the one in the infobox to the right) or Charles M. Russell – and who are otherwise heavily represented with their work on the interior pages of the series as well.

Five of the more popular titles saw separate latter-day British first print versions in the UK as a standard (non-padded) hardcover in a dust jacket book format,[4] even though British customers could originally coach along with their US counterparts by ordering the US version of the series through their nearest Time Life Books subsidiary.

As in the UK, other language territory customers were offered the opportunity to acquire the original American version via mail through their nearest Time Life Books subsidiary, typically by series subscription.

When the series was launched the publisher tried to entice customers to take out a subscription by offering a promotional gold-imprinted hardboard slipcase which held the volumes The Ranchers, The Gunfighters and The Trailblazers.

[13] Since only a handful of titles were reissued as such, they were hardly recognizable as series volumes, and could easily be considered/confused as standalone editions, especially because each of them was released irregularly.

Additionally, these latter-day reprints were issued in comparatively small numbers, making them quite rare in comparison to the ubiquitous faux leather editions.

The role of the Native Americans in the history of the Old West could not be covered as in-depth in the main series as their huge part in it warranted, due to the broad scope of the subject matter.

All six 192-page series volumes were authored by Sarah Brash and were specifically written for the older high-school youth and predominantly sold to (school) libraries.

[18] Apart from the book titles, Time-Life has under its own "Time Life Video" imprint co-released in 1994 the aforementioned 1993 documentary television mini-series The Wild West from Rattlesnake Productions.

Time Life followed up with its own direct-to-DVD four-disc Cowboy country : the complete story of the wild west on DVD set in 2006.

[20] An ancient, precursory publication on the topic had been the 1963 plain hardcover volume from the early The LIFE History of the United States series, the by American historian Margaret L. Coit authored volume 4 ("The Sweep Westward, 1829-1849", OCLC 5876270), endowed with a revised 1974 hardcover reprint edition, which was followed by a 1979 in faux burgundy red leatherette executed deluxe reprint edition (OCLC 3020923, 5472519 respectively).

Being considered the one that was most appealing to the imagination, it was "The Gunfighters" that was chosen by the publisher as the series show piece, featuring prominently in several contemporary television commercials, one of them presented by actor Jack Palance (known for his roles as Western "bad guy", most famously in Shane).

In addition, US customers who responded by telephone to the television ads were rewarded with a free gift which was a western-style belt buckle at first before it was abandoned.

In 1979, the subscription bonus gift was upgraded to a portfolio which contained six 7.9 by 10.2 inches (200 mm × 260 mm) plates, suitable for framing, and depicting items associated with the Wild West, to wit, shoulder arms, handguns, a train, a stagecoach, saddles and bits, and Native-American ceremonial and everyday artifacts, along with an accompanying letter from the publisher.