FIRST EDITION OF PEANUTS TREASURY, WARMLY INSCRIBED AND WITH A SCARCE LARGE SKETCH OF LUCY BY CHARLES SCHULZ, ACCOMPANIED BY A TYPED LETTER ON CHARLES SCHULZ’S OWN PEANUTS STATIONERY SIGNED BY HIM
SCHULZ, Charles M. Peanuts Treasury. WITH: Typed letter signed. [New York]: (United Feature Syndicate, 1968); Sebastopol, California, October 14, 1968. Quarto, original gray cloth, original dust jacket; Single leaf of Peanuts stationery measuring 6-1/2 by 7 inches. Housed in a custom cloth slipcase. $11,000.
First edition on this wonderful collection of Peanuts comic strips, inscribed by the cartoonist with a scarce full-page sketch of Lucy: “For Addie with every best wish—Charles Schulz,” and accompanied by an original typed note on Schulz’s own Peanuts stationery empathizing with a Mrs. Peppard over an illness, expressing regrets that they did not meet at a hockey game at which Bobby Hull played, offering her this Peanuts, and expressing kindest regards, signed by Charles Schulz.
The Peanuts Treasury collects hundreds of black-and-white daily and Sunday strips from Schulz's classic comic. Accompanying this copy is a typed signed letter written on Charles Schulz's personal stationery printed with one of his Peanuts illustrations and his Sebastopol California address. Dated "Oct. 14, 1968," the letter, addressed to "Mrs. Fred Peppard" of Heyward, California, reads: "Dear Mrs. Peppard: I am very sorry that you have been ill, and can fully appreciate the agonies you have been going through. I am sorry that we did not get a chance to meet the night that Bobby Hull and I were out on the ice. That was a good night for me, and it was a great pleasure to get to talk to him. Here is a copy of our latest Peanuts book, which I hope you will enjoy. Kindest regards. Sincerely yours. [signed] Charles M. Schulz." Schulz was an avid fan of ice hockey, as well as a player in his younger days. Just one year after this book was published, Schulz opened Snoopy's Home Ice, a skating rink in Santa Rosa. In fact, both Schulz and Bobby Hull were awarded the Lester Patrick Trophy for Outstanding Service to the Sport of Hockey in the United States (Hull in 1969 and Schulz in 1981). Ice skating and ice hockey were featured regularly in Peanuts and even the Zamboni has became a Peanuts regular with 47 appearances over 20 years. "Peanuts first appeared in October 1950 in eight daily newspapers. 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… By the time of Schulz's death [in 2000] he had drawn a total of 18,250 Peanuts strips, and the cartoon was syndicated in 2,600 newspapers worldwide, appearing in 21 languages in 75 countries" (ANB).
Book with tape residue to rear pastedown, slight soiling to cloth, and mild toning to extremities. Dust jacket with only minor wear to extremities. Signed letter extremely good, with tape residue to corners and mild toning to edges. An extremely good inscribed copy, with scarce original sketch of Lucy.