"GOOD OL' CHARLIE BROWN": FIRST EDITION OF THE FIRST PEANUTS COLLECTION

SCHULZ, Charles M. Peanuts. New York: Rinehart, (1952). Octavo, staple-bound as issued, original pictorial wrappers.

Scarce first edition of the first collection of comic strips starring Charlie Brown, Snoopy and friends.

Following his service in World War II, "Schulz returned to Minneapolis and began looking for cartooning jobs. He worked for a time lettering comics pages for an area religious magazine, contributed cartoons to local newspapers and even sold a few to the Saturday Evening Post… By 1950 he had begun drawing a comic strip called Li'l Folks for the St. Paul Pioneer Press, and that year it was bought by United Feature Syndicate for national distribution. Because another syndicated strip had a similar name, UFS—over Schulz's strenuous objections—renamed his cartoon Peanuts… The feature was immediately popular and was soon picked up by hundreds of other newspapers throughout the country. By the end of the decade Schulz had become arguably the best-known cartoonist in the United States… From the 1950s onward Schulz assembled and published his cartoon strips in book form, beginning with Peanuts in 1952" (ANB). This volume represents the strip's first two and a half years of publication. The cartoons it contains were never reprinted in any other title (unlike most other Peanuts cartoons, which have been printed in many collections). Schulz' characters appear in their earliest forms: they are all younger than their final, now familiar versions, with very large heads and small bodies. Schroeder, Lucy and Linus are infants, and Snoopy is a puppy who has not yet been given thought balloons. Some incidents will seem inconceivable to readers of later Peanuts (for example, two girls arguing over who likes Charlie Brown more). Some favorite features of Charlie Brown's world, however, are already in place, including Schroeder's prowess on the toy piano, Snoopy's insatiable appetite—and the apparent origin of Lucy and Charlie Brown's frequent football follies. First edition, with publisher's device to copyright page. "Price $1.00" stamp on front wrapper as often.

Interior fine, light rubbing and toning to extremities. A handsome near-fine copy.