I’ve just added two more books to the AAUGH.com reference library, neither one of them new. One is the second edition of Jan Lindenberger’s Unauthorized Guide to Snoopy Collectibles from 1998. It’s a book of pictures of Snoopy stuff, of course. Books like this always remind me of the great variation of accuracy in the various stuffed Snoopys done over the years. I don’t care about having the price-estimates, but I do like one thing in this used copy: its inscription. There are times when buying a used book when you want it to be immaculate, but there are also times when it’s nice to feel that the book had its own life, its own history. In this case, someone named Erik saw the book, and it made him think of Nancy, a woman he gave it to with love.
The other book is Deciding for Myself, a junior high textbook published by the Anglican Church of Canada in 1966. There’s a half dozen of the cartoons that Schulz did for the Church of God’s Youth magazine scattered in between stories. Schulz is credited twice… and his name is misspelled both times (“Charles Schultz” on the title page, “Charles M. Schultz” on the copyright page.) Remember that strip where Charlie Brown finally wins a trophy, and his name is misspelled on it? I have a feeling that Schulz knew that one from plenty of experience.
