The value of old Ladybird Books

I don't know if more people are interested in old Ladybird Books, but more people seem to be interested in them as money making collectables.

Although I've been getting fewer enquiries about buying books recently, I have had many more enquiries from people wanting to sell them. Perhaps this is a sign of (relatively) hard times, or perhaps programmes like the recent edition of 'Flog It!' and the interview with Kathie Layfield have led people to believe that even fairly modern books such as the Read it Yourself series 777 are valuable to collectors.

Of course, from the 1960s onwards, Ladybird was very well established as a publisher of children's books - and these books were to be found in every school, Sunday School and many homes around the country. They were published in vast numbers, so with very few exceptions, (such as the elusive 'Indira Ghandi', 'Discovering Alton Towers' or some of the original 606d series) books published after the 1960s are not hard to track down and the words 'First Edition' printed in a laminated 1980s book are meaningless in terms of value.

But it's very nice to see that the genuinely scarce titles from the 1940s and 1950s can still command a high price on eBay. Of course, it would be less 'nice to see' this price if I hadn't completed my own collection years ago. But for you determined collectors without lots of money to throw at the really rare books you lack - it's not getting easier, so I salute you.