I was an avid reader as a child and later became a teacher so I have developed a great love of vintage children’s books – in fact I began my Etsy vintage shop after searching the web for copies of books I had loved as a child which had been mislaid over the years. By far the most popular books in my shop are vintage Ladybird books.
Anyone who was a child in Britain in the 1960s and 1970s will no doubt have had at least one or two Ladybird books on their bookshelves. The range of subject matter the different Ladybird book series covered during this period is huge – from the fairy tales of the immensely popular (and collectible) Series 606D through books on daily life and hobbies, history, nature and famous people to technical books on the inner workings of a computer or car engine!
Today, vintage Ladybird books are very collectible, particularly early 1st editions, which often still have their original dust jackets, and any books from the original Well Loved Tales series 696D mentioned above – these were first published in the 1960s with text by Vera Southgate and beautiful illustrations by Eric Winter. The most desirable of all of these is Cinderella, published in 1964, which in a first or early edition can reach very high prices.
The very first “Ladybird” book with a ladybird logo was published in 1915 by Wills and Hepworth Ltd in Loughborough, England, but until 1940 the books were published only intermittently and were not in a standardized format.
The first title in the standard Ladybird book format, Bunnikins Picnic Party, was published in 1940 – the size and number of pages being determined by the wartime paper shortage as a book this size and shape could be made out of one sheet of paper of the size used by the printing presses of the time. In the 76 years since then the 7 x 4.5in size and format of Ladybird books has remained the same.
Early Ladybird books (up to 1965) had paper dust jackets and the initial pocket money price of 2/6 (two shillings and six pence) remained unchanged from 1940 until 1969. After this, prices rose gradually. From 1963 to 1974 books had “tally number” of the titles published to date printed on the back cover. Tally numbers and the original cover prices are useful in dating a book as many books ran to several editions.
From 1984 the original matte covers gave way to shiny “gloss” covers. Many of these newer books published from the 1980s to the early 1990s are still popular – in my Etsy shop I sell many of the Ladybird Children’s Classics books, together with Ladybird Walt Disney titles.
Happy Reading!
Gillian @PrettyHappyVintage
I, too, am an avid reader and collector of vintage books of all sorts, so I appreciate your love of these fabulous children’s books. They are often the very best, aren’t they. Thanks for posting! 🙂
As a child, I loved to read and that has followed me into adult life. I really enjoyed reading about these children’s books and I will now be looking for these at sales. Thanks for sharing with us Gillian!
I enjoyed reading this blog so much, then I visited your shop. I was there until 0300 hours! I love these little books, so full of information and the illustrations in some of the early ones are amazing. I have had a pile of these waiting to be listed for weeks. Today’s the day!
Loved your post. It’s amazing how much the books we read as children stay with us!
I love old books – Thanks
I was only interested in horse stories as a child and rarely got to the classics, unless forced. I’ve read quite a few as an adult and have found them thoroughly enjoyable. Thanks for the great post.