With all of the books that have been released lately, I thought I’d recap the major big-gifty ones for those considering their Christmas shopping (or their git lists).
- The Snoopy Treasures: A Celebration of the World Famous Beagle is the book that I’d better list first, as an author who doesn’t want to rile up his publisher. This is a broad history of Snoopy as a character and as a social force, full color, hardcover, with some cool removable items.
- Only What’s Necessary: The Art of Charles M. Schulz is a book in the Chip Kidd style (because it is a Chip Kidd book) of reproducing materials not as they were meant to reproduce, but either as they really were (i.e., lots of shots of original art from the Schulz Museum archives) or as they actually were reproduced (shots of the printed page.) AS I TYPE THIS, THE BOOK IS A FULL 50% OFF COVER. Bargainy bargain.
- Peanuts: A Tribute to Charles M. Schulz has a bevy of cartoonists doing original stories, whether it be stories about the Peanuts characters or autobiographical pieces about how they relate to Peanuts and Schulz.
- The Art and Making of The Peanuts Movie: Lots of nifty art in this big, full-color book on the current box office hit.
- The Big Book of Peanuts (not available online, alas) – this year’s volume collects all the non-Sunday strips from the 1960s.
And for a less physically intimidating book for Schulzologists, there’s A Charlie Brown Religion, which looks at Schulz’s religious history and how it is reflected in the strip.
Meanwhile, if you want to impress with the biggest, ‘spensivest book and don’t care that it’s from last year, the Peanuts Artist’s Edition is still available!
