Is there any recorded use of the phrase, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" being used in a commercially available D&D campaign or any rulebook of any edition, specifically to reference (secretly or overtly) a beholder that appears in the course of the campaign? What's the earliest instance?
[RPG] What’s the earliest instance of a “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” reference to beholders
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It's based on a toy.
And that's all most sources will give you, because they're drawing from an article (Ed Greenwood's "Ecology of the Rust Monster" in Dragon #88, later quoted by another article of the same name in issue #346) which is actually about the rust monster, and only passingly mentions the owlbear. In fact, the original quote is so vague it's hard to tell if they actually mean to say the owlbear shares the same origin as the rust monster (a plastic toy).
But Tony DiTerlizzi gives us photos of the actual toy which inspired this freaky creature, and so here it is, the original owlbear:
It comes from a pack of early 1970s cheap plastic toys depicting "prehistoric animals," most of them entirely made up. Look, you can see the bulette and the rust monster, too:
The origin of these toys is from Hong Kong, where they made these toys to resemble monsters from the 1960's famous UltraMan TV show. source
It has! The only edition ever officially translated into Hungarian is the original 3rd edition (not 3.5e). RPGGeek lists Hungarian translations of the Player's Handbook (Játékosok könyve), Dungeon Masters Guide (Kalandmesterek könyve), and Monster Manual (Szörnyek könyve), all published in 2001.
Finding copies might be a trick, but they're out there!
Best Answer
The earliest reference is 1983
First time I heard it referenced in Dungeons and Dragons was in the 1983 Saturday morning cartoon.
It was Episode 2, The Eye of the Beholder, specifically at this point during their conversation with Dungeon Master.
Not really published though and not exactly canon.