It’s easy to get a bit sentimental over many of the golden-age Ladybird book illustrators and lose sight of the fact that they were busy working people, just earning a crust. For the most part, the artists don’t seem to…
Read moreIntroduction The Little Red Hen in Hambledon A couple of weeks ago a journalist called Steve Clark got in touch. He was thinking about writing an article about the real scenes captured in Ladybird Books. Previously he had written a…
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A Ladybird book quiz. For confirmed Lady-nerds only as it’s super-challenging. No checking bookshelves, now. Who illustrated the 497 (character defect stories)? What was the last matt book to be published in the Children’s Classics series? How many books in…
Read moreThis Ladybird book quiz is slightly tougher. The challenge is to do this quiz from memory, without recourse to your bookshelves. What are the names of the 2 children in the Travel Adventure series, 587? What colour is Cinderella’s dress…
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This Ladybird book quiz is nice and easy to start with. The challenge is to do this quiz from memory, without recourse to your bookshelves. What was the original name of the publishers now known as ‘Ladybird’? ‘Flight One…
Read moreJohn Berry and his work for Ladybird books. (Part one is here) As I said in my last post, the People at Work series was one of the first Ladybird series I remember. The first 7 titles represent for me…
Read moreThis sale of Ladybird books took place some time ago. I leave the blog post here just as a record – and as a reminder of the inspirational generosity of some collectors. You’ve finally done it – you’ve got your…
Read moreThe thing about Ladybird Books … well, one of the things … there are a lot of things … but one of my favourite things about Ladybird Books is the way they capture domestic scenes in snapshot. Details of 20th…
Read moreFor me, John Berry is right up there with the very best illustrators. Although I’ve always enjoyed his artwork, he is another of the Ladybird artists that I’ve grown into more as I’ve got older. One reason is perhaps because his books are among…
Read moreSomething I find fascinating is when photographs come to light that were used by Ladybird artists as studies for their artwork. Here’s one that appeared on Twitter (via @russellsdesk) a couple of months ago – along with the image from…
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