Alan's Copy of More Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz

More Peanuts (1954) was an early hardcover collection of Peanuts comic strips by Charles M. Schulz. One Alan's copy has an origiinal drawing of Charlie Brown signed by the author. The condition is only fiar, alas, but who caould have imagined in 1954 what a future this franchise would have?

Charles M. Schulz
Live Auctioneers listing accessed April 20, 2025

https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/204185374_more-peanuts-signed-with-a-sketch-by-charles-schulz

Charles M. Schulz
Live Auctioneers item description

The catalogue entry:

https://vegalleries.com/releases/pop-culture-featuring-the-estate-of-jay-ward

No sale!

04936

Seen and Noted: An Art Spiegelman Postcard

Seen and noted on AbeBooks:  Artie meets Charlie on the back of a postcard.

Art Spiegelman
AbeBooks listing accessed April 15, 2021

https://www.abebooks.com/signed/ART-SPIEGELMAN-INSCRIBED-POSTCARD-ARTISTS-UNIQUE/30894640101/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&cm_ite=viewbook

 03597

Marc Luers's Sketch of Charlie Brown by Charles M. Schulz

The Peanuts comic strip was in its fourth year in 1954 when Charles M. Schulz made an appearance at the Walter Hines Page Elementary School in South Minneapolis, which his daughter attended. He offered character drawings to families at the school carnival. Mrs. Luers was sporting enough to put up the fifty cents to obtain a large sketch of Charlie Brown for her son Marc. You can buy Marc's very same classic sketch today, but expect to pay a bit more this time around.

Charlie Brown
Inscribed "To Marc—Schulz"

Charles M. Schulz
AbeBooks Listing Accessed August 5, 2020

https://www.abebooks.com/Charles-Schulz-Signed-Charlie-Brown-Drawing/30711993145/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&cm_ite=readmore

Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:

Charles M. Schulz

Attempted Bloggery's Good Ol' Index

03342

Charles M. Schulz: Baseball Season

Whoever expected to see a spring season without baseball? Even Charlie Brown would be disappointed.

Charles M. Schulz
AbeBooks Listing Accessed January 17, 2020

https://www.abebooks.com/Charles-Schulz-Signed-Charlie-Brown-Drawing/30542135611/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&cm_ite=viewbook

Note: At the time of this posting the drawing of Charlie Brown is remains available for sale.

Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:

Charles M. Schulz

Baseball

Souvenir Drawings

Spring

Attempted Bloggery's Peanuts and Cracker Jack Index

03207

Doris Laufer's Copy of Good Ol' Charlie Brown by Charles M. Schulz

One does not need to venture very far out on the proverbial limb to  surmise that the Doris Laufer to whom cartoonist Charles M. Schulz dedicated a prepublication copy of Good Ol' Charlie Brown (1957) must have been the Chicago bookseller of that name. Her copy of the Peanuts book features a highly-desirable early drawing of Snoopy made before Charlie Brown's dog matured into his rounder and more familiar proportions.

Charles M. Schulz
AbeBooks Listing Retrieved December 15, 2019

https://www.abebooks.com/Good-Charlie-Brown-New-Peanuts-Book/30514331243/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&cm_ite=viewbook

Doris who?

From The Art of the Bookstore by Gibbs M. Smith

https://books.google.com/books?id=cxJ54wLyhr8C&pg=PA22&lpg=PA22&dq=Doris+Laufer&source=bl&ots=Mzl61C7QuN&sig=ACfU3U08nn7uhwCafwHgYipgeJrxqb-Rzw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjN9KyUqMPmAhXsguAKHZfeD2YQ6AEwBHoECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q=Doris%20Laufer&f=false

03112

"It is Balloon:" Leaving the Museum of Fine Arts

There's a lot more to see in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, but we'll get back to some of that at a later date. For now, most readers of this blog will be happy to see a blimp floating above the art museum. Disappointingly, it isn't there to get the notice of legions of art lovers, but rather of the fans at the Red Sox game in nearby Fenway Park.

Cyrus Edwin Dallin, Appeal to the Great Spirit, 1909

What's that up in the sky?

"It is balloon!"--as no real Indian ever said.

"It is balloon!"

From "F Troop" Season 2, Episode 3

"Bye, Bye, Balloon" - September 22, 1966

Don Diamond as Crazy Cat

Frank de Cova as Chief Wild Eagle

Written by Austin and Ima Kalish

Directed by Seymour Robbie

Note:  See my photos from the fine collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

01623

Charlie Brown at MoCCA Fest

This year's MoCCA Arts Fest featured a very special attraction. It was the Charlie Brown character balloon, on loan from the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. It was great to be able to see the Peanuts character up close.

The 69th Regiment Armory, site of the 2014 MoCCA Arts Fest

The Charlie Brown character balloon greets visitors to MoCCA Fest 2014

The Charlie Brown balloon at MoCCA Fest 2014. I've never seen a Macy's balloon indoors before.

You're a good man, Charlie Brown.

The Charlie Brown balloon floating above MoCCA Fest 2014

The public, of course, did not get to see the balloon being inflated, but the Society of Illustrators did post a balloon inflation photo on its Twitter feed. The caption reads "Charlie is not a morning person."

https://twitter.com/SOI128/status/452059046426988544/photo/1

Perhaps you've seen this balloon around town before:

Good Grief!  The Charlie Brown balloon above Columbus Circle, Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade 2012

Photo by Marc Hoffman

http://attemptedbloggery.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-2012-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade.html

Note:  Older posts regarding the MoCCA Arts Fest may be seen here.

01111

Lucy and the Football

Lucy offers to hold the football for Charlie Brown while he runs up to kick it. May I assume you know what generally happens next?

Charles M. Schulz, Lucy and the Football, 1997

 http://www.comicnurse.com/comics-medicine-2012-my-toronto-highlights/lucy-chalie-brown-football/

But in this Sunday comic strip from 1983, things are different. For once, Charlie Brown doesn't take the bait. How extraordinary!

Bonhams San Francisco is offering this original artwork by Charles M. Schulz for $18,000 to $25,000, which is not so outlandish for Sunday Peanuts strips these days. But I think this is an outstanding Sparky strip and it offers collectors a chance to own a unique example of the famous Lucy and the Football gag. I can imagine fierce competition for this one on February 17. Who knows how high the hammer price could go?

 Charles M. Schulz, Peanuts, October 16, 1983
Bonhams San Francisco
February 17, 2013 Sale

http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/20940/lot/6159/?search_query=1&division=None&passages=True&earliest_first=False&country=None&past_sales=future&back_to_year=2003&sale_no=None&top_level_department=None&department=None&query=football&create_facets=True&value_data_currency=GBP

 Charles M. Schulz, Peanuts, October 16, 1983
Inscribed, "For Harry and Eileen [Morgan] with friendship/and every best wish.-- Sparky--"Bonhams San Francisco
February 17, 2013 Sale

http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/20940/lot/6159/?search_query=1&division=None&passages=True&earliest_first=False&country=None&past_sales=future&back_to_year=2003&sale_no=None&top_level_department=None&department=None&query=football&create_facets=True&value_data_currency=GBP

February 17, 2013 Update:  Sold for US $25,000 including premium.

 Charles M. Schulz, Original Artwork for Peanuts, October 16, 1983
Inscribed, "For Harry and Eileen [Morgan] with friendship/and every best wish.-- Sparky--"
Bonhams San Francisco
February 17, 2013 Sale

http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/20940/lot/6159/?search_query=1&division=None&passages=True&earliest_first=False&country=None&past_sales=future&back_to_year=2003&sale_no=None&top_level_department=None&department=None&query=football&create_facets=True&value_data_currency=GBP

0601

A Better Year?

Here's a Peanuts strip I just had to reblog:

Charles M. Schulz, Peanuts, January 1, 1953

http://thisisnthappiness.com/post/15135104639/peanuts

0567

A Few Sparks from Sparky

By now you've probably heard that a large collection of love letters from "Peanuts" creator Charles M. Schulz sent to Tracey Claudius, a woman 23 years his junior, was offered for sale at Sotheby's last week. Schulz was 48 when he started writing these letters, and Ms. Claudius was 25. She is now reportedly ill, and her family consigned the corresondence to Sotheby's auction of Fine Books and Manuscripts, Including Americana. The letters include a number of original drawings and they date from 1970-1971. Schulz divorced his first wife in 1972 and remarried the following year. The archive consists of 44 letters on a total of 56 pages, and carried a presale estimate of $250,000 - $350,000. That's around $5,000 a page. The collection did not find a buyer in the December 14 sale.

These love letters made the news and the press has alluded to this affair as a scandal. Schulz's first marriage may have already been troubled at the time of this correspondence. These letters were exhibited in Philadelphia in 2011, but many had not heard of their existence until this sale. My interest in this affair is not prurient but rather is based on the observation that cartoonists can produce very pleasing pictures when they are in love and trying to impress someone. Schulz's approach is gentle but insistent and shows him elaborately planning and recalling clandestine long-distance phone calls and hugs stolen in public places. Schulz proposed marriage twice to Claudius, but she refused him both times.

With 56 pages of correspondence to draw on, should we be at all surprised that Sotheby's chose to represent the entire archive with just one photograph in its catalogue listing? Quite a few other images from the collection have made it onto the internet elsewhere and they are of considerable interest. I have included many of these below the auction listing.

Charles M. Schulz, Letters to Tracey Claudius, 1970 - 1971
Sotheby's

http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2012/books-manuscripts-n08919/lot.87.html

Charles M. Schulz, Letters to Tracey Claudius, 1970 - 1971, Detail 1

Charles M. Schulz, Letters to Tracey Claudius, 1970 - 1971, Detail 2
Sotheby's

Charles M. Schulz, Letters to Tracey Claudius, 1970 - 1971, Detail 3
Sotheby's

Charles M. Schulz, Letters to Tracey Claudius, 1970 - 1971, Sotheby's Catalogue Listing

http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2012/books-manuscripts-n08919/lot.87.html

Charles M. Schulz, Letters to Tracey Claudius, 1970 - 1971, Sotheby's Catalogue Note [End of Sotheby's Listing]

http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2012/books-manuscripts-n08919/lot.87.html

Photos of a number of works apparently from this archive are can be found at various sites. Here are a few, with links back to them:

Charles M. Schulz, Love Letters to Tracey Claudius, 1970 - 1971
Sotheby's 

http://house-of-mystery.blogspot.com/2012/12/peanuts-romantici-le-lettere-di-charles.html

Charles M. Schulz, "Hi, Sweetie!"
Letter to Tracey Claudius, 1970 - 1971

http://house-of-mystery.blogspot.com/2012/12/peanuts-romantici-le-lettere-di-charles.html

Charles M. Schulz, "Yesterday I stood in a book store for two hours
and no one gave me a hug." Letter to Tracey Claudius, 1970 - 1971

http://house-of-mystery.blogspot.com/2012/12/peanuts-romantici-le-lettere-di-charles.html

Charles M. Schulz, "I liked seeing you through a tennis racket,"
Love Letter to Tracey Claudius, 1970 - 1971

http://house-of-mystery.blogspot.com/2012/12/peanuts-romantici-le-lettere-di-charles.html

In 2011, some of these love letters were exhibited at Space 1026 in Philadelphia. They are from the private collection of Katie Leeman, daughter of Tracey Claudius.

 Charles M. Schulz, "Rats! I hate it when I don't get any love letters!" Love Letter to Tracey Claudius, 1970 - 1971

 "This is a Love Letter" Exhibition

Space 1026, Philadelphia, PA, 2011

Photo by Bailey Salisbury 

http://realnormal.blogspot.com/2011/04/dear-tracy.html

 Charles M. Schulz, Letter from Dorothy E. Moore to Schulz Forwarded with Comments to Tracey Claudius, 1970

  "This is a Love Letter" Exhibition

Space 1026, Philadelphia, PA, 2011

 Photo by Bailey Salisbury 

http://realnormal.blogspot.com/2011/04/dear-tracy.html

 Charles M. Schulz, Letter to "Sweet" Tracey Claudius, 1970 - 1971

  "This is a Love Letter" Exhibition

Space 1026, Philadelphia, PA, 2011 

Photo by Bailey Salisbury 

http://realnormal.blogspot.com/2011/04/dear-tracy.html

 Charles M. Schulz, "My Bold Plan," Letter to Tracey Claudius, 1970 - 1971

  "This is a Love Letter" Exhibition

Space 1026, Philadelphia, PA, 2011

 Photo by Bailey Salisbury 

http://realnormal.blogspot.com/2011/04/dear-tracy.html

Charles M. Schulz, "This is a Love Letter," Letter to Tracey Claudius, 1970 - 1971

http://news.slowandsteadywinstherace.com/2011/04/l-this-is-love-letter.html

Charles M. Schulz, "Love is sharing." Letter to Tracey Claudius, 1970 - 1971 

 http://news.slowandsteadywinstherace.com/2011/04/l-this-is-love-letter.html

Charles M. Schulz, "On April 22nd you squeezed my hand in the dark! Remember?" Letter to Tracey Claudius, 1970-1971

 "This is a Love Letter" Exhibition

Space 1026, Philadelphia, PA, 2011 
Photo by Alex Lucas

http://www.cantabpublishing.com/blog/?tag=tracey-claudius-edit

Photos by Jeffrey W. Bussmann from the "This is a Love Letter" exhibition in Philadelphia:

Charles M. Schulz, Letters to Tracey Claudius, 1970-1971

 "This is a Love Letter" Exhibition

Space 1026, Philadelphia, PA, 2011

Photo by Jeffrey Bussman

http://postnonprofalyptic.blogspot.com/2011/04/lives-of-charles-m-schulz.html

Charles M. Schulz, Letters to Tracey Claudius, 1970-1971

 "This is a Love Letter" Exhibition

Space 1026, Philadelphia, PA, 2011

Photo by Jeffrey Bussman

http://postnonprofalyptic.blogspot.com/2011/04/lives-of-charles-m-schulz.html

Charles M. Schulz, "Tracey Left with Joe Cool," Letters to Tracey Claudius, 1970-1971

 "This is a Love Letter" Exhibition

Space 1026, Philadelphia, PA, 2011

Photo by Jeffrey Bussman

 http://www.flickr.com/photos/j_bussmann/5604242028/

Charles M. Schulz, Letters to Tracey Claudius, 1970-1971

 "This is a Love Letter" Exhibition

Space 1026, Philadelphia, PA, 2011

Photo by Jeffrey Bussman

http://postnonprofalyptic.blogspot.com/2011/04/lives-of-charles-m-schulz.html

Charles M. Schulz, Letters to Tracey Claudius, 1970-1971

 "This is a Love Letter" Exhibition

Space 1026, Philadelphia, PA, 2011

Photo by Jeffrey Bussman

http://postnonprofalyptic.blogspot.com/2011/04/lives-of-charles-m-schulz.html

Charles M. Schulz, Drawing of Snoopy on Photograph, 1970-1971

 "This is a Love Letter" Exhibition

Space 1026, Philadelphia, PA, 2011

Photo by Jeffrey Bussman

http://postnonprofalyptic.blogspot.com/2011/04/lives-of-charles-m-schulz.html

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