At last week's WI meeting one of my friends came over as soon as I arrived and whispered this magic words: "I've found you come Ladybird books" and oh boy had she come up trumps! As well as the large history and nature series that Ladybird are quite famous for they also published a large number of religious titles (split over a couple of series) that are not so well known. I've picked up a couple of these over the years (St Paul being one such example) but there generally don't seem to be many of them about in charity shops. Imagine my delight therefore when this set that E had found ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: A Ladybird Fifth Picture Book
The Ladybird books for pre-schoolers have to be some of my favourite ones - possibly because they remind me so much of the very early years of my childhood. A couple of years ago now I features the First Picture Book here on Ladybird Tuesday and since then I've been looking out for the rest of the series, but had little luck until last month. After months of fruitless looking my old regular charity shop source suddenly had a whole box full of Ladybird books for the ridiculous price of 3 for 99p. Amazingly four from the Picture Book series, series 704, were in there and in wonderful condition ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: Tiptoes, the Mischievous Kitten
Some of the earliest Ladybird books published in the now familiar format centred around animals. As well as the very first series (series 401) which was all animal rhymes, series 497 was a series of 10 different animal stories, first published in 1949 and Tiptoes, the Mischievous Kitten was the second book in this series. Written by Noel Barr, and with illustrations by P. B. Hickling, there is a 1940s charm and innocence about the story that almost makes it seen old fashioned compared to some other Ladybird books in my collection. Much as the title suggests, Tiptoes, the Mischievous Kitten ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: Multiplication Made Easy
Maths. It's a school subject that seems to divide people - both children and adults. Some people just hate it and find it so so difficult, yet for others, like myself, it is their favourite school subject! When you think of Ladybird books most people remember the Keywords scheme which taught children all over the country to read, they remember fondly the classic stories and also the vast array of history books that Ladybird published. They may also recall all the nature books with their amazing illustrations and the various hobbies that were covered in other series. The books that may ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: Nelson
I mentioned a few weeks back that I'd found some other Ladybird titles that have recently been republish and Nelson from the Adventures in History series (series 561) is one such book. This title was originally published by Ladybird in 1957, but some time in the late 1970s or early 1980s (I'm unsure of the exact year) the book was reprinted with a different cover, giving it a look that was consistent with the new Adventures in History books that were published around that time. All the inside pages and illustrations were identical to the original 1957 version. I'm not exactly ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: Junior Science – Magnets and Electricity
I'm half revisiting an old title here on Ladybird Tuesday this week. Back in early 2013 I covered Magnets, Bulbs and Batteries which is part of series 621 which was called Junior Science. In the 1980s this series was updated and reissued and the books were juggled around a little bit. Rather than the four original titles (Magnets, Bulbs and Batteries, Light, Mirrors and Lenses, Air, Wind and Flight and Levers, Pulleys and Engines) there were eventually 8 titles in this revamped series: Magnets and Electricity Light Air Simple Mechanics Simple ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: King John and Magna Carta
Now that my Ladybird collecting hobby is so well know I feel like I have an army of spies out there looking for Ladybird books for my collection. One such spy (more commonly known on twitter as Tall_Rich) tweeted me one Saturday evening from St Albans Abbey to tell me that he'd spotted a new Ladybird book. @BeingMrsC seems this has been reprinted (c) 2015 of an original 1969 book for the 800th anniversary pic.twitter.com/subIKYFK7C — Richard Gillin (@tall_rich) February 28, 2015 In fact it seems that there was a whole display of Magna Carta related books, with the Ladybird reproduction of ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: Ladybird by Design
Sorry for being a bit late with today's Ladybird Tuesday. A poorly Master C who has suddenly taken to having three hours of naps a day - all on top of me! - means that everything is running somewhat behind schedule here chez C. And apologies for any extra bits in this post - rather than going to bed he's insisting on sitting on my knee and "helping" me with my work! I'm also looking at something a little bit different this week on Ladybird Tuesday. Rather than featuring an old vintage Ladybird book from my collection I'm instead looking at a new book that has just been published dot tie in ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: Learning with Mother Book 4
This post on Learning with Mother Book 4 has now moved to Penny Plays and can be read here. ... read more
Topsy and Tim Learn to Swim
I think it's fair to say that I was more than a little bit excited with a recent eBay auction win that I had - vintage Topsy and Tim books! The thing that possibly excited me the most though was the fact that I now am the proud owner of two different vintage versions of Topsy and Tim Learn to Swim. Whilst this might not sound like much to get excited about my Topsy and Tim collecting to date has shown me that there are often changes between different versions of the books and I'm always fascinated to see what they are and to try to work out why the changes have been made. I've ... read more