He sent 44 letters and 35 drawings to Tracey over an eight-month period. Most of the letters were brief; in the drawings, Schulz let his alter-ego Charlie Brown stand in for him to deliver the bittersweet messages of love. In the report, a manuscript specialist described how unsatisfied Schulz felt during that time in his life. The collection, then, reflects - however briefly - the way correspondence can sweetly fill a void.
In my youth, Snoopy was a great love of mine - that wacky little dog who dreamed of being an author. One of the illustrations Tracey received was an excerpt from Snoopy's novel. "It was a dark and stormy night," it began, accompanied by a cover note: "Who else do you know that gets a manuscript from a dog?"Does anyone have an extra quarter of a mil I could borrow? The auction starts on Friday, and I can't quite come up with the opening bid.
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