That first Peanuts book

P1
If you’re confused by the cover image – that box Patty is holding is an older-style camera where you look down into it to see the image you were going to capture.

The new edition of the first Peanuts book, titled simply Peanuts, doesn’t hit regular bookstores until next month, but it’s already landed at comic book stores. The reproduction is good and sharp, they reproduced from an early printing so it still have the introduction in it that was missing from later printings. The cover is a disappointment; I’ve always liked the feel of the matte cover of the original, but this has a standard modern glossy cover – understandable for production reasons, but still disappointing.

I did have to twitch a bit at the new text on the back cover, which explained that this facsimile has a sampling of the best of the early years of the strip, including the very first newspaper strip.

But it doesn’t. Because it’s an accurate facsimile, and that book never had the very first strip.

Still, if you want a nice little collection of early strips without paying the price of the first volume of The Complete Peanuts, this is a good deal… particularly at the moment, when Amazon is still taking preorder for $3.46 (that price may change by the time you click it.

Classic finds
A needle-ssly fine present

Being a) an adult and b) not a Christmasian, it makes sense that I’m not given much in the way of Christmas presents. This year’s haul was just two items, both given by Dr. Mrs. The AAUGH Blogger: a Terry’s Chocolate Orange (yum!), and this Peanuts embroidery book from Japan. …

New releases
Double Love

Simon Spotlight has dropped two books for the Valentine’s Day Shopping Season, and they’re pretty similar. Love is Everywhere, Snoopy! is a board book that is supposed to be Charlie Brown explaining love to Snoopy (who is said to have asked, which raises the usual how-does-Snoopy-communicate-to-Charlie-Brown question.) Charlie Brown answers …

New releases
“Books”

My grocery shopping today landed me two new Peanuts “books”. The more bookish of the two is the latest edition of The Great Big Book of Peanuts Word Seeks, volume 5 to be precise, which as I’ve mentioned before I’ll allow to qualify as a book… particularly because it not …