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The very first adventures of the world-famous newspaper strips by Charles Schultz!
Filled with bitter-sweet humour and child-like innocence, join Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and the gang in this beautiful new facsimile edition of the timeless classic Peanuts strips by the legendary cartoonist Charles Schultz.
This collection contains 240 Peanuts strips taken from 1950-1952 and introduces several of the comic strip’s famous and familiar characters, including Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy, Linus, Patty, Sherman, Schroeder and Violet.
The strip’s bitter-sweet humour and child-like innocence helped to cement the Peanuts comic strip’s popularity and secure its reputation as a true, one-of-a-kind, timeless classic.

48 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1952

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About the author

Charles M. Schulz

3,037 books1,628 followers
Charles Monroe Schulz was an American cartoonist, whose comic strip Peanuts proved one of the most popular and influential in the history of the medium, and is still widely reprinted on a daily basis.
Schulz's first regular cartoons, Li'l Folks, were published from 1947 to 1950 by the St. Paul Pioneer Press; he first used the name Charlie Brown for a character there, although he applied the name in four gags to three different boys and one buried in sand. The series also had a dog that looked much like Snoopy. In 1948, Schulz sold a cartoon to The Saturday Evening Post; the first of 17 single-panel cartoons by Schulz that would be published there. In 1948, Schulz tried to have Li'l Folks syndicated through the Newspaper Enterprise Association. Schulz would have been an independent contractor for the syndicate, unheard of in the 1940s, but the deal fell through. Li'l Folks was dropped from the Pioneer Press in January, 1950.
Later that year, Schulz approached the United Feature Syndicate with his best strips from Li'l Folks, and Peanuts made its first appearance on October 2, 1950. The strip became one of the most popular comic strips of all time. He also had a short-lived sports-oriented comic strip called It's Only a Game (1957–1959), but he abandoned it due to the demands of the successful Peanuts. From 1956 to 1965 he contributed a single-panel strip ("Young Pillars") featuring teenagers to Youth, a publication associated with the Church of God.
Peanuts ran for nearly 50 years, almost without interruption; during the life of the strip, Schulz took only one vacation, a five-week break in late 1997. At its peak, Peanuts appeared in more than 2,600 newspapers in 75 countries. Schulz stated that his routine every morning consisted of eating a jelly donut and sitting down to write the day's strip. After coming up with an idea (which he said could take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours), he began drawing it, which took about an hour for dailies and three hours for Sunday strips. He stubbornly refused to hire an inker or letterer, saying that "it would be equivalent to a golfer hiring a man to make his putts for him." In November 1999 Schulz suffered a stroke, and later it was discovered that he had colon cancer that had metastasized. Because of the chemotherapy and the fact he could not read or see clearly, he announced his retirement on December 14, 1999.
Schulz often touched on religious themes in his work, including the classic television cartoon, A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965), which features the character Linus van Pelt quoting the King James Version of the Bible Luke 2:8-14 to explain "what Christmas is all about." In personal interviews Schulz mentioned that Linus represented his spiritual side. Schulz, reared in the Lutheran faith, had been active in the Church of God as a young adult and then later taught Sunday school at a United Methodist Church. In the 1960s, Robert L. Short interpreted certain themes and conversations in Peanuts as being consistent with parts of Christian theology, and used them as illustrations during his lectures about the gospel, as he explained in his bestselling paperback book, The Gospel According to Peanuts, the first of several books he wrote on religion and Peanuts, and other popular culture items. From the late 1980s, however, Schulz described himself in interviews as a "secular humanist": “I do not go to church anymore... I guess you might say I've come around to secular humanism, an obligation I believe all humans have to others and the world we live in.”

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5 stars
229 (55%)
4 stars
138 (33%)
3 stars
41 (9%)
2 stars
3 (<1%)
1 star
1 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
Profile Image for Danny Mason.
340 reviews11 followers
January 3, 2024
Charlie Brown was such a smug little shit in the early days, I now understand why everyone was so fed up with him in the Christmas special. You reap what you sow, Charlie Brown.
Profile Image for Kristie.
276 reviews20 followers
January 8, 2019
I love all things Peanuts. I found this one on a bargain shelf at Books-A-Million. It was worth every penny. This book complies the first 250 comics published by Charles Schulz. I found out some things I didn't know that I didn't know about the characters. I met some new characters. I even saw the first appearance for Schroder. It was fantastic, quick, and lighthearted.
3 reviews
July 28, 2019
While the first few years of Peanuts' existence were not as fleshed out as the strip was in decades to come, there were plenty of interesting and funny moments to be had here looking through the early forms of the characters. It's fascinating to watch Charlie Brown grow into the lovable loser he is today, and Lucy the cranky fussbudget she is today. There are many relics of characters here such as Shermy, Patty, and Violet, who were initially major characters, and in a way prototypes of characters like Lucy and Linus. While in later years the strip became more complex and abstract, this is still fantastic and a solid 9.4/10 for me
Profile Image for Hestia Istiviani.
1,034 reviews1,961 followers
May 6, 2020
I read in English but this review is in Bahasa Indonesia

Sebuah percakapan lepas terjadi di grup WhatsApp Klub Siaran Goodreads Indonesia. Tiba-tiba saja kami membicarakan Charlie Brown dan komik Peanuts. Salah seorang dari kami pun mengatakan bahwa Charlie Brown dan teman-temannya seperti Linus, Lucy, Snoopy, Woodstock sebenarnya bermain-main dengan filsafat eksistensialisme. Aku yang pernah besar bersama produk bergambar Snoopy merasa tidak paham.

Sampai akhirnya Big Bad Wolf Indonesia diadakan versi virtual. Dalam koleksinya yang mereka akui ada belasan ribu, hanya beberapa saja yang akhirnya menarik minatku. Salah satunya adalah Peanuts ini. Komik striip pilihan masa-masa awal Schulz menciptakan karakter Charlie Brown.

Bagi yang terbiasa melihat Linus dan Lucy, Peanuts terasa berbeda. Schulz membawa karakter yang mungkin belum diketahui orang banyak. Wajar saja, namanya juga awal mula karakter legendaris. Di sini, Charlie Brown akan bermain bersama Violet dan Patty. Dua anak perempuan gemas dengan pemikirannya yang sangat "anak perempuan."

Meskipun berbentuk komik dengan tokohnya yang masih berusia 2 tahun, topik yang diangkat seringkali tentang menjadi orang dewasa. Mereka menyindir dan menjadi satir untuk mengajak pembaca dewasa menertawakan kehidupannya. Masing-masing "judul" hanya terdiri dari 4 panel saja. Sederhana namun bisa mengundang tawa.

Di samping tentang topiknya, Peanuts juga unik karena Schulz menggambar Charlie Brown dengan begitu menggemaskan. Kepalanya bulat dengan alis yang menyatu seperti ulat bulu. Aku merasa beruntung berhasil mendapatkan komik ini di BBW kemarin. Sebab aku rasa, aku akan kesulitan mencarinya di Indonesia.
Profile Image for Punkie.
794 reviews7 followers
May 24, 2021
5 stars

A best of compilation of the first year of Peanuts. As always, Peanuts is perfection.😊 For those who aren't familiar with the early years it's a refreshing look at Schulz's original artwork for the series, the introduction of Schroeder, & before Charlie Brown became that beloved blockhead he was saucy! 😆 Peanuts never ages, simply the best.
3 reviews
August 4, 2019
It's like watching an old couples sitcom, like The Honeymooners or The Odd Couple, and it's clean fun. I like this much more than the the modern Peanuts, which just feels like a hate-fest on Charlie Brown.
Profile Image for Gabriel Bebe.
1 review
January 19, 2025
It was a really funny book. I 100% recommend to everybody to read this book!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for David Morillo Barrera.
235 reviews15 followers
August 27, 2023
Sencillamente impresionante. Y digo sencillamente porque es cuatro frames que cuentan una historia y todas son divertidas. Se concluyen obviamente rápido y te entretienen desde que empieza hasta que termina. Es una belleza de historieta y ver el desarrollo de un personaje que tanto amo y cómo ha evolucionado a lo que es hoy, es un privilegio. Adorable y Que te saca una sonrisa. Simple pero sencillo. Eso es lo que puedo decir de Peanuts. Su humor lo entiendes mejor si eres un adulto y tiene muchos chistes de su época que son muy muy buenos.
Profile Image for J.B. Mathias.
938 reviews3 followers
October 23, 2024
I noticed a few things about these early peanuts comics. First of all they're better than the ones i've read so far. Secondly I see some Calvin and Hobbes influence that I never noticed before from Peanuts. And lastly the art style and characterization is much different than what the characters eventually become. Also I could be mistaken but the first instance of the football bit seems to take place without Lucy who doesn't seem to be a character yet. Simple charming comics, some anachronisms but much that holds up.
Profile Image for Lorenzo D'Arcaria.
539 reviews23 followers
January 20, 2021
Non conoscevo, se non per fama, il mondo dei Peanuts, lo confesso! Poco tempo fa ho visto l'ultimo film uscito con loro come protagonisti e ho voluto assolutamente approfondire andando alla fonte delle loro avventure. Così mi sono fatto prestate da un amico questa raccolta che riassume il meglio dei Peanuts dividendo i capitoli per decenni e devo dire che hanno allietato gli spazi vuoti delle mie giornate con le loro strisce.
Profile Image for Simon Sweetman.
Author 13 books69 followers
June 19, 2022
Lovely to finally find and read these original Peanuts strips - the best of 1950-52’s initial run printed up for this first volume. There’s a lot still to be developed and the attempts at humour are more overt meaning there’s some jarring jokes - neither inappropriate nor unfunny but they just hit hard. The refinement was to come of course. But there’s still plenty here to enjoy. And not just for historical sake.
Profile Image for Sadie-Jane Huff.
1,865 reviews12 followers
April 13, 2024
Book 065 of 300 ~ 2024

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

How wrong can you go with Peanuts??

Interesting how Schroder was initially a baby.. then became a baby who has a toy piano.

Before Lucy came along, Violet was the one who pulled the ball.

Charlie Brown was a bit of a casanova!

*LOL*

#book65of300 #amreading #netgalley #tbrpile #instareads #readstagram #reading #bookreview #bookreviewer #booklover #booksAreLife #booksForTheWin #thisbookfairyisreading #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagramfeature #bookshelf #booksofinstagram #bookish #bookworm #goodreads #booklovers #theSGbookfairyReads #theSGtrekkiereads #bookaholic #bookaddict #bookchallenge2024 #reviews #lovebooks #booknerds
Profile Image for urmom.
215 reviews1 follower
June 29, 2023
ok tbh. i friggin loved this haha

i love all the characters! ofc charlie brown, snoopy, patty, shermy, violet, and i even saw the instantaneous evolution of schroeder from a lil baby to a lil baby to a prodigal (toy) pianist haha (kinda sad tbh how shermy just ceases to exist)

idk each comic is just wholesome and fun and in just 4 panels a bunch of them made me laugh. just a good time tbh
18 reviews
July 19, 2023
This book is talking about the mail have a dog he slept he caught a hole and he put it the dog in the hole and he put back the sand cover it and he’s so strong he can push back the sound up and he crawl back out that’s what I’m talking about.
Profile Image for Jocelyn Lugo.
350 reviews2 followers
July 11, 2018
Adorable, simply adorable. I read a few per sitting and they enever ceased to cheer me up.
Profile Image for Aaron White.
380 reviews1 follower
October 17, 2018
I like this collection of the very earliest Peanuts. Charlie Brown has a sassy vibe that he loses later and we see the evolution of Schroeder.
Profile Image for Qothrunnada.
99 reviews9 followers
December 29, 2020
Kumpulan komik strip dari si Snoopy, Charlie, Violet, Patty, sama Schroeder sang penyuka Beethoven. Tingkah tengilnya si Charlie yang ala-ala bocah jadi bikin komik stripnya unik.
Cocok bgt dibaca kalo lagi banyak kerjaan/tugas dan pengen bacaan yg gak berat.
Profile Image for Carmen.
15 reviews1 follower
July 13, 2025
No surprise Snoopy stole the spotlight from Charlie Brown
Profile Image for ^.
907 reviews65 followers
January 27, 2015


Snoopy is a mere pup here. I read the later books before this one it's really quite odd to see Schulz's much more naive style of sketching.

I love the illustration on the back cover. Snoopy's been 'harnessed' to a pull-along truck in which Charlie Brown, Patty, Violet, and Schroeder are sitting. Snoopy's expression shows that he knows he's been conned.

Whatever happened to Patty, in her distinctive diamond-checked dress?
Profile Image for Helen.
237 reviews5 followers
February 21, 2016
The characters were instantly recognizable, despite looking different! A great blast from the past. as I child I did nor recognize the talent and insight Schulz had, so it was great to meet hum again as an adult.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews

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