The "Smithsonian Collection of Newspaper Comics" is a giant, heavy hardcover book that is just bursting with great comic strips. We bought this as a present for my Granddad in 1984, but you can be sure that I got far more use out of it than he did. Every visit to their house had me pouring over these old comics.

Comic strips of the golden age where very different from the tiny, three panel strips we have today. Huge, multi-page full-color adventures were the norm. "Little Nemo in Slumberland" is a burst of eye-candy. Windsor McCay had imagination and talent. "Thimble Theater Staring Popeye" was another favorite of mine. E.C. Segar's Sailor is very different, and much improved, from the spinach-eather we have now.

Other great strips in here are "The Yellow Kid," "Gasoline Alley," "Barney Google," "Moon Mullins," "Buster Brown" and the list goes on. This book is a treasure.