The latest addition to the AAUGH.com Reference Library is not a Peanuts book. Oh, it has the word “peanut” in it, but then it has many words. It’s a copy of The Rainbow Dictionary, from 1947, years before “Peanuts” began. It’s a kid’s dictionary, with simple defiintions (often, really just examples of the word in use), with a couple of each page’s entries accompanied by a color illustration.

Some of you may be familiar with the popular web feature “Garfield minus Garfield“. Well, The Rainbow Dictionary is The Charlie Brown Minus Charlie Brown Dictionary. Originally published in 1973, The Charlie Brown Dictionary, which was available at various times as one thick volume, 6 thin volumes, and eight even thinner volumes, was based on The Rainbow Dictionary, with examples based around Peanuts characters and with Peanuts illustrations (existing material taken from the strip and from the animated specials).

Now, if I really wanted to track the evolution of this dictionary, I need another edition. The Charlie Brown Dictionary was actually  on the second edition of The Rainbow Dictionary, first released in 1959. And the evolution doesn’t end there, as The Charlie Brown Dictionary served as the basis for a couple Chinese editions, which means that some folks overseas looking to learn English are learning specifically those words that were most common in literature for 5-8 year olds, over half a century ago (admittedly, with a few tweaks thirty-some years ago).

And thus the world turns.

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