100 years ... of what?

It's finally here. Let the party begin. A centenary of Ladybird Books. It says so here, and here ...and here ...

Radio programmes and newspaper articles and exhibitions and celebratory re-publishing ... Some starting now, lots in the pipeline. Expect much more of the same. 

But wait.  What exactly is being celebrated here?  I've heard a few people say "I didn't realise Ladybird Books have been around that long".  And, let's be honest, that's because ... well the fact is ... they haven't.

So what happened in 1915 that gives the excuse for a centenary this year?  Simply that the brand name 'Ladybird' was first registered by the company then known as Wills and Hepworth in that year.  But in no real sense could Wills & Hepworth be called a publisher of children's books back then.  The company was a thriving local printers who specialised in stationery, catalogues, maps, almanacs and any manner of commercial ephemera for local businesses.  Since they also provided book-binding services, when there was little other 'real' work around printing simple, cheap children's books became useful stop-gap activity; but this was far from being core business.

Some of the pre-1940s books - with a much later, classic sized book for scale

When most people talk about 'Ladybird Books' they mean the familiar small size books with a Ladybird logo - with dense, high-quality, colourful illustrations on the right and text on the left.  But actually nothing like that was printed until a quarter of a century later with the publication of the first 'Bunnikins' books.  The early 'stop-gap' books published between 1914 and the Second World War were published only sporadically and in small print runs. They were large in size, crudely printed on the cheapest of paper and with little thought to content or layout.

A pre-1940s book, with a post 1940s book for comparison

Often these books have no author or artist stated, no preliminary pages, little (if any) colour printing inside and are generally unappealing. The illustrations are so crude that often you'll find that children used them as colouring-in books!  There was little standardisation in size, font, binding or content, no Ladybird logo and if you came across one of theses early books in a secondhand bookshop today, you'd only be able to identify one by the words 'Ladybird Series' printed in small letters at the very bottom of the cover.

An early book - the crude paper and line-drawing illustrations

Nor was there any significant evolution and development over these years, either .  The first 'real', small-size Ladybird Books (Bunnikins Picnic Party, Ginger's Adventures and The First Day of the Holidays) seem to have emerged blinking into the world in 1940 like cuckoos from the Wills & Hepworth nest - with no visible antecedence.  And even then (and for over a decade later) the company saw itself as a commercial printing business with a minor sideline in publishing.

The first 'real' Ladybird Books, 1940

 But if we take 1940 as the 'birth' of Ladybird Books as a publisher, that means waiting another quarter of a century for the big party.  Too long!

Am I quibbling over details?  Not really.  The conclusion I've come to is the same conclusion that Ladybird themselves came to some years ago. Inconveniently, back in 1990 Ladybird decided to celebrate their half-century and 2000 was Ladybird's Diamond anniversary (60 years).  Now Maths may not be my strong suit, but if you celebrate your 60th in 2000 then you've got to be a bit creative to celebrate your centenary just 15 years later.

Reprinted in 2000 to celebrate 60 years of Ladybird

50th Birthday - in 1990

But what the heck!  I'm always happy to have extra reasons for messing around in Ladybird Land, so by all means let's have the big party now. (We can always have it again in 2040).

Ladybird By Design - Exhibition

On the 24th of January a new exhibition will be opening, celebrating the design of Ladybird Books through 'the golden years' of the 50s, 60s and early 70s.

The exhibition will be held at the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill-on-Sea and opens on the 24th January 2015.  It will run until 10th May.  The exhibition organisers have decided to divide the exhibits into 'themes' (rather than merely follow chronology) and there will be lots of original Ladybird artwork on display, illustrating these themes.  I know that Douglas Keen's daughters have generously contributed various artifacts, including the lovely 'prototype bird book' that you may have seen discussed on the BBC4 Timeshift documentary. 

The idea for the exhibition was prompted by the soon-to-be-published book (also called "Ladybird by Design") written by Lawrence Zeegen, who is Dean of the School Design at the London College of Communication.  This book will be published in early March.  I hadn't heard of Lawrence before this project and haven't met him yet - but fingers-crossed the book will provide useful middle-ground between the attractive flossiness of 'Boys and Girls' and the worthy wordiness of 'The Ladybird Story'

I've been involved in a minor (if time-consuming) way - providing a little info and a lot of pictures for the book (assuming they get used).  For the exhibition I'm loaning a stack of books - around 600.  I've picked out nice copies so, although I'm sure the DLWP team have effective processes for ensuring that loans are returned to their owner in the same condition as they went out, I'll be pleased when they're safe home again - something every collector will understand!

I'm hoping to get to the opening on the 24th January and I've been asked to give some sort of talk - I think on my interest in Ladybird Books - the following month: Saturday 14 February 2pm

Anyway, I'll keep you posted but try to get down there if you can - entrance is free and the DLWP is a great place to visit anyway.  If we've 'met' via this blog, website or Twitter it would be lovely to meet you in person .  People who have read this blog for a long time may recall that, by coincidence, the DLWP was where I was filmed presenting some Ladybird Books at a special 'Vintage' edition of the Antiques Roadshow about 10 years ago. (10 years??)

Perhaps one day there will be an exhibition on Ladybird Books put on north of the Watford Gap ... but that's another story.

 

Answers to the Christmas Quiz

Here are the full pictures.  Congratulations to this year's Wise Robin - Anthea! 

Peter and Jane: 5a

Coco the Caravan - from 'Tootles the Taxi'

Smoke and Fluff

Snow White and Rose Red

What to Look for in Summer

The 3 Little Pigs

The Magic Porridge Pot

Sleeping Beauty

Cinderella

The Elves and the Shoemaker

People at Work: On the Railways

Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs

The Princess and the Pea

Junior Science: Magnets, Bulbs and Batteries

The 3 Little Pigs (again!)

Happy New Year!

Christmas Quiz 2014

Here's this year's Ladybird Book Christmas Quiz.

It doesn't have very much anything to do with Christmas, but I ran out of inspiration.

Very simply - I've taken some of the pictures that I've posted on Twitter this year and have zoomed in.  How many can you identify?

I'd like to know the series and, if possible, the name of the book. Lots, but not all are Well Loved Tales.  Also, two of the pictures below come from the same book.  But which one?


There'll be a prize for the winner - ie the person who emails me with the most correct answers - but don't get excited: it will be worth approximately 10p.

The real prize will be the glory of becoming this year's 'Wise Robin'.

Picture 1

Picture 2

Picture 3

 Picture 4

 Picture 5

 Picture 6

Picture 7

Picture 8

Picture 9

 Picture 10

Picture 11

Picture 12

Picture 13

Picture 14

Picture 15

Picture 16

Picture 17

Good luck!

Happy Christmas and Happy New Year!

Much Ado about Branding

Just this week everywhere I look online I seem to see reference to Ladybird Books - and the trumpeting that they are " to drop gender branding from its books after almost 100 years".:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-30143662

If you search Twitter at the moment for Ladybird Books - all you will see are re-tweets to links of variations on this article, usually accompanied with an exclamation "Finally!!" "Hooray!" "About time too" or some other verbal eye-roll.

The things is, my own eyes then focus on my main Ladybird collection - approximately 2000 books published between 1940 and 1980 (with a little blip to allow the wonderful Puddle Lane series into the fold).  And it occurs to me,

"You know, I can't think of one single book in the whole of this vast collection that is branded '"For Boys" or "For Girls".

Sure enough, there isn't one. Not one.  In fact, apparently there have only ever been about 6 - all of them published in the 21st century, none of which I've ever noticed.

Well  of course it's a good thing to drop this sort of branding.  Of course let kids feel free to enjoy whatever they like  - I personally can't stand the early commercialised tyranny of pink and blue.

But  just 6 titles - all published in the last few years.  What on earth is all this fuss about?  Why all the talk about "After 100 years ... finally..."? 

Well first of all, Ladybird is an iconic name in children's publishing - so perhaps it's inevitable that a small gesture should be treated as a milestone. 

Secondly, people are probably confusing 'branding' with 'stereotyping'.  Oh yes, of course vintage Ladybird Books are crammed full of stereotyping.  In the 1950s books, middle-class Mummy rarely takes off her apron, unless to go shopping.  All decisions are first passed by authoritative, suit-wearing, pipe-smoking Daddy.  Childhood is an apprenticeship into these strictly demarcated roles for both boys and girls - the former learn to clean the car and make things with tools, the girls to cook and clean and sew.  This continues well into the 1960s - and therefore is illustrated in the iconic figures of Peter and Jane.

Part of the pleasure of vintage Ladybird Books lies in looking through this little window (however distorting) into concepts and attitudes of the decades in which they were written.

You can also note in the books the attempts that were made in the 1960s and beyond to address the stereotyping that was beginning to be condemned by parents and teachers as society itself began to reflect more on the nature of gender roles in the years leading up to changes of legislation in the 1970s. There might have been assumptions that some of these books would be more likely to be purchased by (and for) boys rather than girls, and vice versa.  But there was no actual branding to set this in stone - not even indirectly through colour-coding,  differentiated fonts or layout.

These books are products of the society that produced them - then - not now.  Peter and Jane alone might still be in print today, but they are locked in their late 70s, early 80s world - the last time that the books were edited or re-illustrated.

The third reason why this story has made the headlines?   I don't suppose Ladybird today mind at all if a news item  reminds the world that the trade name 'Ladybird' has been around for 100 years, and that therefore there's a centenury coming up.