The Party, 1960

The Party, series 563, is, for me, one of the most evocative of all Ladybird books.  It was written by child-education expert Margaret Gagg and beautifully illustrated by Harry Wingfield.   To my 5-year-old self this book was essence-of-aspiration.  The book tells the story of two children, John and Susan, who are invited to Ann’s birthday party.  The children walk unaccompanied to the party, play party games such as hunt-the-thimble and blind-man’s-buff and eat a homemade party tea.  Everyone behaves well.  No one cries and no-one deliberately bursts the balloons.  Ann is delighted with her gift (a Ladybird book and some pencil-crayons) and there are smiles all round.  But the outstanding feature for me – and for many of us – is the party clothes.  Ann has a yellow party dress with a big sash bow and shiny yellow party shoes.  Susan has the same but in blue.  I couldn’t imagine anything more beautiful than those party clothes.

In common with all the books in series 563, The Party was originally issued with a dustwrapper.

This copy:

This copy is a rare survivor.  Normally copies of this title are loved to death by young readers.  This copy has a few minor blemishes but is generally in good condition inside and out.  Wear to the corners and a couple of faint lines to on th ecover (see photos).  Inside a name to the front endpapers and the pages have the odd minor blemish and mark but are generally clean. It dates to around 1970 and has the original price of 2/6 revised to 12.5p on the back.