I dislike the term ‘national treasure’ but if ever a series of books deserved the accolade, then it’s Ladybirds (especially the older ones). They feel nice in your hand, the illustrations are tremendous, and the content is remarkable. Just looking at the spines on the bookshelf is a nostalgic pleasure.
There’s a superb touring exhibition curated by Helen Day (pictured below) who is the leading collector of these titles and associated items such as original artwork for the books. As well as her website Ladybird fly away home, she shares daily examples of the artwork on her Twitter and Instagram pages which I strongly commend to you.
I interviewed her recently as the exhibition - The Wonderful World of the Ladybird Artists - is currently running in my home town at St Albans Museum and thought you’d be interested in her thoughts on all things Ladybird.
What are your earliest memories of reading Ladybirds?
My mother was a primary school teacher so the books were always there, lying around the house. They were just the backdrop to my childhood, usually somewhere in the background. When I started school, the reading scheme that taught me to read was Peter and Jane and for my fourth birthday present I was given Little Red Riding Hood. I think this was the first book that I knew to be just mine and no-one else’s.
Why did you start collecting?
I didn’t really think about collecting them until I had a baby of my own and begin to think about my own childhood and what I would like to share with him. It started when my son was about 10 months old and someone gave us a bin-bag containing some old books that were destined for the charity shop if I didn’t want them. I pulled out two Ladybird books, showed them to my son, and watched while his eyes lingered on the beautiful, detailed, figurative artwork, for the first time as if he were ‘reading’ the pictures. It made me resolve to get more books, so I began to trawl car-boot sales, jumble-sales and charity shops for them. When I realised that, nostalgia aside, they were such little treasure-chests of social history, I quickly got hooked.
Which titles have been particularly hard to find?
As with most areas of collecting, the hardest books to get hold of tend to be the earliest books, because Ladybird was not established as a publisher and the printing runs were much smaller. Also those books that were not popular in their day and so were published for only a short time. The classic Ladybird book was first published in 1940, and during the war and post-war years good quality paper was often in short supply. So early books often had dustwrappers in very thin, delicate paper that disintegrated quickly, and this makes a fine dustwrapper on on early book very desirable to the collector.
The rarest book of all is thought to be an edition of How it Works: The Computer which was commissioned by the Ministry of Defence in the 1970s. This book is believed to be the standard 1971 Ladybird book by this name, but with plain covers, intended to spare the blushes of the staff who might feel uncomfortable being seen reading a children’s book. But it is unlikely that one of these books will ever come to light as they were all believed to have been decommissioned and destroyed after a few years.
Which are your favourites?
I have lots of favourite books. There is that edition of Little Red Riding Hood which was my first ever Ladybird book and the only one in my collection today that has stuck with me since childhood. Growing up, I would spend my pocket money on a book a week. When I grew out of the fairy tales, my first choice was something from the Adventures from History series. I particularly liked any book where the main character was a woman, Elizabeth I, Florence Nightingale, Elizabeth Fry, Joan of Arc, and so on. But today the more I read and research the process of producing the different series and the artists who illustrated them, the more I appreciate the different skills and decision-making that went into producing each pocket-money volume.
What do you focus on in your collection?
The period of my main interest is from 1940 until the mid-1970s. That was the point that the company was sold to a large conglomerate and, to my mind, lost its sense of direction and the quality of the output. But I am interested in anything that sheds light on the evolution of the company, and the way that its varying fortune mirrors so much about Britain throughout the 20th century. I didn’t set out to collect first editions, but when you have been collecting for a long time and have multiple copies of every title, you are always looking for a better condition copy of an earlier book, so it happened by default.
I believe you keep your collection in a shed at home, is that right?
My bookshed is my special place. When I spend time there, time seems to pass at a different pace. Music in the background, a cup of tea to hand, and boxes of books to pack up or organise. That’s my happy place.
What other associated Ladybird items do you collect?
About 22 years ago I went to an exhibition of original Ladybird artwork. It was a selling exhibition. It seemed magical that you could own a piece of the artwork itself and I was soon hooked. I now own perhaps 150 pieces, I have no clear idea to be honest. In addition, I am interested in any piece of ephemera or information that sheds a little more light on the history of the company and the working lives of the writers and artists. It’s hard to come by, but a collector always needs another challenge. I’ve also been very lucky that, because I have quite a good profile on social media, people will generously send me items that are in their possession because they want them to go where the items will be understood and appreciated.
What do you think about the recent reimagined Ladybirds For Grown-Ups series, e.g. The Mid-Life Crisis, The Hangove, etc?
Well the first thing to say is that they aren’t really Ladybird books, they look just like them, and that’s part of the joke. They were published by Michael Joseph but re-use original Ladybird artwork for comic effect. Some of them are very funny. I’m friends with the writers and love the fact that they have masses of respect for the original books and see their works as a loving tribute. But, as a collector, they do tend to confuse people, and you constantly see them now for sale mixed in with the real books and described as ‘vintage’.
All photos copyright Helen Day
A couple of weeks ago, I went to the Museum of English Rural Life for the first time and was delighted to discover that they have a small gallery of Ladybird books, along with some of the original artwork. It was wonderful!
They also had a bookshelf with a mix of older titles to read, plus the new Ladybird for Grown Ups by Joel Morris and Jason Hazeley, which I knew of, but hadn't seen before. Honestly, they are hilarious, and also an incredibly good demonstration of how to write a standalone joke.
But that got me thinking about whether they'd ever been translated into Welsh, and it turns out there were a few Welsh titles. I managed to find four science books from Ebay - Magnetau a Thrydan, Mecaneg Syml, Cemeg Syml and Goleuni, aka Magnets and Electricity, Simple Mechanics, Simple Chemistry and Light. The Welsh isn't simple, mind you, so it's taking me a while to read them, but I'm learning lots of new vocab!
I'd love to see Joel and Jason's books translated into Welsh – it'd be a great way to get adult learners practicing their reading!!
Love this!