The Little Red Hen, Series 606d, 1966

The Little Red Hen, 1966.  This book, illustrated by Robert Lumley, was the 8th book in the original series of 27 Well-Loved Tales books.   The text, as always in the books of this series, was written by Vera Southgate.

As usual, the tales with lots of magical animals in them were given to Robert Lumley to illustrate but in this book, and here he uses humour, energy and observation to create images that will create real drama for a young child at bedtime.  The refrain of the animals “Not I, said the cat, Not I, said the rat” has the power of one of Aesop’s fables too.  You can read more on this website about the challenges faced by Ladybird when they decided to market this book in the Arabic-speaking world. 

This copy:

The Little Red Hen and the Grains of Wheat, matt boards boards.  Illustrated by Robert Lumely.   This book is –  unusually – in very good condition inside and out.  Only light wear and clean, tight pages.  This copy dates to the 1970s and has the original price of 18p on the back.