Ladybird books

HeatherS · Post by **HeatherS** » 29 Nov 2006, 23:53

Tony Summerfield wrote:Oh dear, it looks like a bit of premarital in a children's book

Don't worry, with the offerings contemporary children's authors come out with now it wouldn't even be noticed! Some of them that are aimed at the same audience as Blyton's Adventure series (10-14) are quite shocking, not to mention very worrying since I have two daughters who are fast approaching that age.

Post by **Anita Bensoussane** » 30 Nov 2006, 11:36

The target audience probably wouldn't notice anything amiss about the crib, Tony. When I used to read Goldilocks and the Three Bears to my children, I wondered whether they might ask, 'Why do Father Bear and Mother Bear sleep in separate beds?' But the question never came. Such questions are more likely to occur to adults. Perhaps Father Bear needs a hard mattress for his back, while Mother Bear prefers a soft one!

[Droitwich:] "Anita, when Mrs Moffat decides to cut up the old matress, and use the down for pillows, she is wearing black stockings and plain brown shoes, however, in the next illustration, Mrs Moffat's attire has changed to light brown stockings, and sandal type shoes!"

Seems like shoes were a problem for the illustrators, for some reason. In Smoke and Fluff , the style of Mrs. Cat's shoes keeps changing. Small red bobbles on the shoes on p.5 have become large white bows by p.9. On p.11 the shoes have red flowers and laces which tie further up near the ankle. By p.17, the flowers have disappeared and the laces are different.

On p.8, Mrs. Cat stands up and exclaims, "Where's my ball of knitting wool?" I'm surprised she's so concerned about the wool but not about her yellow armchair, which has vanished!

On p.15, Smoke jumps on to the bottom shelf of the cupboard to hide while Fluff jumps on to the shelf above. The next picture shows the two kittens peeping out of the cupboard - but they've changed places.

The jam tarts which feature in the story look like pies with a pastry top in some of the pictures, but like open tarts in others.

On p.28 we're told that Cook doesn't recognise the kittens as they knock over a bag of flour and flee from the kitchen with some of the tarts. Yet in the illustration they can be seen clearly racing across the kitchen with Cook staring at them in surprise. Perhaps the illustrator meant to add clouds of flour around the kittens, but forgot!

Finally, on p.41 Smoke and Fluff hide in a wooden shed in the garden. In subsequent pictures, this shed has been transformed into a stone building with windows of diamond-paned glass.

Bunnikin's Picnic Party also contains a few errors. Within the first few pages, Bunnikin's shoes change from brown (or perhaps they're meant to be bare feet) to pinky red and then to yellow.

The hem and collar of Fluff's dress also change colour as the story progresses.

On p.33, Bunnikin's trousers and shoes disappear. His trousers reappear on p.47, but not his shoes.

Smoke and Fluff and Bunnikin's Picnic Party come from series 401, with illustrations by A. J. MacGregor. Both my copies have a note at the front saying, "Story and illustrations by A. J. MacGregor. Revised verses by W. Perring." I wonder why the original verses were revised?

Despite the errors, I still find the books in this series attractive although the stories, written in rhyme, are very simple. My son's favourite Ladybird book when he was about two was The Bunney-Fluffs' Moving Day. He loved the rhythm of the story. I read it to him so often that I knew it off by heart.

Anita

enidblytoncollector · Post by **enidblytoncollector** » 01 Dec 2006, 10:36

I love ladybird books too and have got some lovely ones in my collection so far, I only collect the fiction titles as these are the ones i read when i was little, I never remember reading any non fiction titles, guess i didnt like reality too much when i was younger lol

am happy to list what i have if anyones interested? (and if anyone has a copy of high tide!!! gimme gimme gimme

)

Post by **Anita Bensoussane** » 01 Dec 2006, 11:05

I'd love to know what books you've got in your collection, enidblytoncollector, especially the rare ones. What is High Tide? I've also heard that the title The Impatient Horse is hard to find.

Anita

noddy13 · Post by **noddy13** » 01 Dec 2006, 12:15

Since its rare that enidblytoncollector professes to not having a book, and Anita to not knowing what it is.. just happened to check high tide - ladybird on abebooks and this is what came up.

Book Description: Wills & Hepworth Ltd, Loughborough. Beige Paper-covered Boards. Book Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Good+, Price-Clipped. Approx. 115 x 175 mm. Unpaginated (52 pp.) Ladybird Series 401 : animal stories told in verse (by W. Perring), no. 18. Buff boards with brown lettering and illustration. Brown open-leaf ladybird patterned endpapers. One-page ladybird catalogue; list of series 401 to rear flap. Jacket a bit rubbed and worn to edges, small repair to interior with archival tape. Published in 1956, this title was the last in this series to be published in jacket; two other titles in matt boards completed the series in 1980. This is one of the few titles which was never reprinted in the later, matt version and for this reason is one of the most elusive Ladybird books. This copy is not, alas, a first printing, as it has a line drawing rather than a paste-down picture to the front board; it is , however, an early reprint dating from before 1960, which is when the brown endpapers were discontinued. Nevertheless, the book is so scarce that we cannot find another copy of it offered for sale at present, in any edition. It is about a family of kittens (apparently from a single-cat-parent family) being caught on an island at high tide, and it is said that this was one of the less popular stories; but the charming illustrations are every bit as good as the others in this popular series. Bookseller Inventory # 004389

and the price..?

oh only about $394.77 plus $4.91 postage

a.j. macgregor... high tide

Post by **Tony Summerfield** » 01 Dec 2006, 13:09

According to the Ladybird link that I put up in an earlier post in this thread, Jonathan's Shopping Day fetched the record price on ebay of £275 - so I guess High Tide isn't the only scarce title in that series. Perhaps that was where you got your copy from Lynn

Best wishes
Tony

enidblytoncollector · Post by **enidblytoncollector** » 01 Dec 2006, 13:22

thanks for finding that tony, I've been looking on abe for ages and not found one, so guessing that one was listed in the past couple of days, will have to think about it though as its a reprint rather than a 1st. Will do my list shortly too

enidblytoncollector · Post by **enidblytoncollector** » 01 Dec 2006, 14:55

Ok Here goes, by doing this it has given me the chance to catalogue them too

Series 401
Bob Bushtail's Adventure 1st in DJ 1941
Ginger's Adventures 2nd in DJ 1941
The First Day of The Holidays 4th in DJ 1943
Downy Duckling 1st in DJ 1946
Piggly Plays truant 1st in DJ 1946
Lost at The fair 1st in DJ 1948
Mr Badger To The Rescue 1st in DJ 1949
Smoke and Fluff 9th in DJ 1951
Jonathan's Shopping Day 1st in DJ 1952

Series 413
Sleeping Beauty 8th in DJ 1955
Dick Whittington 7th in DJ 1955
Cinderella 15th in DJ 1955
Jack and The Beanstalk rep in DJ 1950's
Tootles The Taxi 1st or Early in DJ
Baby's First Book Early in DJ 1950's

Series 417
Strawberries and Cream - Adventures of Wonk 1st in DJ 1941
Fireworks - Adventures of Wonk 4th in DJ 1944
Going to Sea - Adventures of Wonk 12th in DJ 1951

Series 455
In The Wilderness with Uncle Mac 3rd in DJ 1948
In Green Pastures with Uncle Mac 6th in DJ 1948
Beside The Sea with Uncle Mac 1st in DJ 1952
In The Train with Uncle Mac Rep in DJ Undated

Series 474
The Flower Show ( A Tasseltip Tale) 1st in DJ 1953

Series 497
Beaky The Greedy Duck 1st in DJ 1951
Ned The Lonely Donkey 1st in DJ 1952
Mick The Disobedient Puppy 1st in DJ 1952
Cocky The Lazy Rooster 1st in DJ 1953
The Conceited Lamb 3rd in DJ 1953
The Sleepy Water Vole 1st in DJ 1955

Series 538
The Impatient Horse 1st in DJ 1953

series 549
The Silver Arrow 1st in DJ 1954
The Ambush 1st in DJ 1955

Series 563
Puppies and Kittens 1st 1956 in DJ
Numbers Early in DJ 1950's
The Farm 1st in DJ 1958
Shopping With Mother 1st in DJ 1958

Series 584
Commercial Vehicles 1st in DJ 1964

606D
Cinderella 1st in DJ 1964
The Sly fox and the Little Red Hen 1st 1968
Beauty and The Beast 1st 1968
Snow White and Rose Red 1st 1969

Post by **Anita Bensoussane** » 01 Dec 2006, 17:58

You have some amazing stuff, Lynn. I have an illustrated boards edition of Tootles the Taxi (John Kenney illustrations) which I picked up for about 30p in a charity shop. It's fun to compare it with the more modern version published in the 1980s (James Hodgson illustrations.) Characters like Willie the water cart, Cuthbert the coal cart and Timbo the trolley-bus have given way to Jerry the jet plane, Horace the hovercraft and Henry the helicopter.

I came across a really funny poem about hunting for rare Ladybird titles at boot sales. It's very clever, written in the style of a Ladybird rhyming story (series 401):

http://www.easyontheeye.net/ladybird/items/poem.htm

Anita

Droitwich Lloyd · Post by **Droitwich Lloyd** » 01 Dec 2006, 20:00

Great choices everyone!

Two of my favourites are 'Piggly Plays Truant' and, I think it's called 'First Day of the Holidays' where to mischievous magpies steal a motorcycle. I must try and get them.

Viking Star · Post by **Viking Star** » 02 Dec 2006, 23:00

Anita Bensoussane wrote: came across a really funny poem about hunting for rare Ladybird titles at boot sales. It's very clever, written in the style of a Ladybird rhyming story (series 401):

http://www.easyontheeye.net/ladybird/items/poem.htm

You never cease to amaze me, Anita.

Post by **Anita Bensoussane** » 03 Dec 2006, 09:22

Are you a Ladybird fan, Viking Star?

[Droitwich:] "Two of my favourites are 'Piggly Plays Truant' and, I think it's called 'First Day of the Holidays' where to mischievous magpies steal a motorcycle. I must try and get them."

The birds in The First Day of the Holidays are not magpies. Their names are Pen and Gwen, so I'll leave you to work out what they are

!

I agree that Piggly Plays Truant is one of the best stories in that series and also has some of the most charming illustrations.

Anita

Post by **Anita Bensoussane** » 14 Jan 2007, 14:20

I found some interesting stuff while browsing on Ladybird websites, such as this photograph of a Ladybird book display from the 1950s. Click on the picture to enlarge it. There are stacks of rare titles on display - all in mint condition, of course!

http://www.easyontheeye.net/ladybird/items/shop.htm

There are also some rather mischievous Ladybird greetings cards for sale here, and Ladybird notebooks:

http://www.simonspicer.com

I bought three cards and a Cinderella notebook, which arrived within 24 hours.

I have several Ladybird books with illustrated matt boards, and on some of them the spine is peeling away from the book. I'm not sure how to repair these but I don't want to use sellotape because it turns brown. What could I use? Any recommendations?

Anita

Susie · Post by **Susie** » 14 Jan 2007, 15:28

Anita Bensoussane wrote: I have several Ladybird books with illustrated matt boards, and on some of them the spine is peeling away from the book. I'm not sure how to repair these but I don't want to use sellotape because it turns brown. What could I use? Any recommendations?
Anita

Use Kodex glue. It's a special kind specially for books. I've had many good results from it.

Post by **Anita Bensoussane** » 14 Jan 2007, 19:32

Thanks, Susie. I'll look out for that. Is it better to use that than some kind of tape? The spines are fragile on those old matt Ladybird books. I can understand why Ladybird started laminating the books at a later date, even though they don't look quite so appealing shiny!

Anita