Only What's Necessary: Charles M. Schulz and the Art of Peanuts

<div>Charles M. Schulz (1922&ndash;2000) believed that the key to cartooning was to take out the extraneous details and leave in only what&rsquo;s necessary.

For 50 years, from October 2, 1950, to February 13, 2000, Schulz wrote and illustrated <I>Peanuts</I>, the single most popular and influential comic strip in the world.

In all, 17,897 strips were published, making it &ldquo;arguably the longest story ever told by one human being,&rdquo; according to Robert Thompson, professor of popular culture at Syracuse University.

For <I>Only What&rsquo;s Necessary: Charles M.

Schulz and the Art of Peanuts</I>, renowned designer Chip Kidd was granted unprecedented access to the extraordinary archives of the Charles M.

Schulz Museum and Research Center in Santa Rosa, California.

Reproducing the best of the <I>Peanuts </I>newspaper strip,all shot from the original art by award-winning photographer Geoff Spear, <I>Only What&rsquo;s Necessary </I>also features exclusive, rare, and unpublished original art and developmental work&mdash;much of which has never been seen before.</div>