This is just a quick, short installment of the newsletter — I saw a bargain that I’d rather have go to a newsletter reader than to someone else.
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PEANUTS: A GOLDEN CELEBRATION UNDER $20
AAUGH.com’s pals at BookCloseOuts have a *very few* copies of PEANUTS: A GOLDEN CELEBRATION (that big thick anniversary book) for $19.95 (more than half off the $45 cover price). These are not "used" copies, but they may be returns from bookstores, which would mean that they may be a little worn and/or have a marker mark across one edge of the book…
but they should be fine for reading. If you’re interested, act quickly:
http://bookcloseouts.com/bc/display.book.asp?isbn=0062702440&rid=aaugh
While you’re at it, you may also be interested in Charlie Brown: Not Your Average Blockhead for under $10: http://bookcloseouts.com/bc/display.book.asp?isbn=0067575188&rid=aaugh
or even one of two little hardcover Peanuts collections about love, just in time for Valentine’s Day, at $3 each: http://bookcloseouts.com/bc/display.book.asp?isbn=0006492398&rid=aaugh http://bookcloseouts.com/bc/display.book.asp?isbn=0006492444&rid=aaugh
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VIDEO MOVIES: A CLARIFICATION
Last newsletter, I noted that two of the Peanuts theatrical films were no longer available on video, and made some comment suggesting that the same fate could soon hit the other two theatrical releases.
Peanuts animation maven Scott McGuire pointed out something I should have remembered: the four films are not all released by the same video publisher. The two unavailable videos were issued by Fox; the remaining two (Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown and Race For Your Life, Charlie Brown) are from Paramount; as such, the disappearance of two films should not bode ill for the remaining two.
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ODD PEANUTS BOOK: THE EFFECTIVE EXECUTIVE
I found a used bookstore listing a Peanuts book that I had never heard of, THE EFFECTIVE EXECUTIVE ACCORDING TO PEANUTS. Of course, I quickly moved to grab that up for the AAUGH.com library. And once in my hands, the book suggested something interested to me:
By all appearances, this is a -pirated- Peanuts book!
The book has no copyright notice, nor any properly-placed credit for Charles Schulz (although he is mentioned in the Foreword — which they’ve misspelled as "Foreward".) It also has no publisher or price listed; it appears to have been privately published and distributed by its listed author, B. Tom Green (my copy even has his business card taped inside), and the "Foreward" suggests that it is merely for his friends and associates. Each two-page spread pairs some brief saying about how a manager should act with an example in the strip of that attitude being either followed or (generally) ignored. The strip reproductions are clearly taken from published Peanuts books; some of them have the extended version of the panels or the panel overlaps that were done for the Fawcett Crest editions. The reproduction is spotty, with Schulz’s smooth lines showing up looking irregular.
By the choice of the title (which clearly echoes The Gospel According To Peanuts) and the strips (the newest of which appears to be from the mid-’60’s at the latest) suggests that this book was put together in the 1960’s or not long after.
I wonder if Green tried to find a commercial publisher who would be interested in this book. It’s certainly not deep, but I could see it selling as an amusing little gift for executives.
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Well, that’s it for today! More news when there’s more news. Until then, sending your questions, comments, and suggestions to nat@AAUGH.com !
–Nat Gertler Proprietor, http://AAUGH.com