The Seashore and Seashore Life, 1964 (DJ)

The Seashore and Seashore Life, 1964 edition.  Series 536.

This book is written by Nancy Scott, with jewel-like, vibrant illustrations by Jill Payne.  Payne was one of a rare breed – a female illustrator working for Ladybird over the ‘golden years’ – between the late 1950s and early 70s.  If you ever get a chance to see her original artwork for her Ladybird books, take it.  The original artwork is painted to about the same size as the final picture in the book – exquisite.

This copy still has its original unclipped dustwrapper.  But such a shame that someone has used the book to rest their coffee on!  The two rings and marks on the cover are a particular shame because this is a particularly tricky book to find with DJ.  It was the last one in the series to ever be published with DJ so was in print in this format for only a very short time.   Inside there’s a name to the endpapers and the same name on the back panel.

In short – this copy would serve to plug a gap in your collection until The One comes along – but is not a thing of beauty.