Happiness Is a Warm Puppy

Charles M. SCHULZ

Item#: 106821 We're sorry, this item has been sold

Happiness Is a Warm Puppy
Happiness Is a Warm Puppy

"HAPPINESS IS BEING ON MONITOR": HAPPINESS IS A WARM PUPPY, FIRST EDITION, INSCRIBED BY SCHULZ WITH ORIGINAL SKETCH OF CHARLIE BROWN

SCHULZ, Charles M. Happiness Is a Warm Puppy. (San Francisco: Determined Productions, 1962). Small square quarto, original pictorial paper boards, original dust jacket.

First edition of Charlie Brown and the gang's whimsical and often wise words on happiness, with 30 "Peanuts" cartoons by Schulz, inscribed by the cartoonist with an original sketch of Charlie listening to a radio, "'Happiness is being on Monitor,' Charles M. Schulz."

Before 1962, Schulz's "Peanuts" books had been collections of previously published strips. He wrote and drew this book of original illustrations and text, encouraged by marketing entrepreneur Connie Boucher, in a single day. "Booksellers had never sold a hardcover quite like [it]… The Cuban missile crisis had just died down, and people were again remembering to shave, when Schulz's small, square volume—complete with mocha-shade dust jacket, shocking-pink endpapers and brightly colored pages—arrived in bookshops accompanied by a letter that closed, 'It won't change the world, but we hope it will make things a little more pleasant for us survivors'… Happiness is a Warm Puppy quickly proved itself to be that rarest of publishers' dreams, a favorite of all constituencies… The 'Happiness is…' formula permeated mass culture, not for a season or even a year, but throughout the rest of that difficult, splintering decade" (Michaelis, 338-41). Issued in both pink and brown dust jackets. According to a laid-in note from a previous owner, Schulz inscribed this copy for San Francisco broadcaster Dean Mell when he interviewed Schulz for the NBC radio program, "Monitor." Gift inscription.

Interior clean with a few light creases; light ink mark and minor discoloration to rear free endpaper. Light wear to spine ends. Boards lightly soiled. Dust jacket fine. A desirable and delightfully inscribed copy in near-fine condition.

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