Ladybird books

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Lulie
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Post by Lulie »

Anita, you could always try book tape. It's like sellotape, only made for mending books. I think Scotch sell their own version of it, but you can buy it from D & M Packaging as well.

Here's a link to the book tape page.

http://www.care4books.com/site/page.asp ... d=20&cid=3
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Anita Bensoussane
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Post by Anita Bensoussane »

That looks like a useful site. Thanks, Lulie.

Anita
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
- E. Nesbit, The Wonderful Garden.


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Post by Moonraker »

I seem to remember Michael Edwards (Yahoo! Group) having a method of repairing old/valuable books. It was quite involved, if I remember correctly, but it might be worth while searching for it on the Blyton Group message page.
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Anita Bensoussane
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Re: Ladybird books

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Has anyone seen the bumper volume just published by Ladybird - Boys and Girls, A Ladybird Book of Childhood? It's a lavishly-illustrated book of nostalgia. I found Tony Robinson's witty descripton of The Party particularly enjoyable, and Alan Titchmarsh's account of how books like British Birds and their Nests proved invaluable in helping him learn about nature when he was a young boy. The book is a feast for the eyes - I was delighted to come across a Ladybird illustration of the Tube on one page and I also chuckled at a full-page illustration of Peter and Jane out in the garden, fighting over a Ladybird book!

One criticism I have is that some popular series such as 401 (rhyming stories like Piggly Plays Truant) and 497 (animal stories like Ned the Lonely Donkey) are barely mentioned. Also, there are no illustrations from rare titles like The Tinker's Wig, High Tide, The Impatient Horse or the Wonk series. It would have been fascinating to have a glimpse of internal illustrations from those books.

Have any other Ladybird fans seen this book? What did you think of it?

Anita
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
- E. Nesbit, The Wonderful Garden.


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Viv of Ginger Pop
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Re: Ladybird books

Post by Viv of Ginger Pop »

I've got it - and mother wants it. But I've got it tonight :twisted:

Viv
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Petermax
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Re: Ladybird books

Post by Petermax »

Anita Bensoussane wrote:Has anyone seen the bumper volume just published by Ladybird - Boys and Girls, A Ladybird Book of Childhood?
I must buy this book! Reading this thread prompted me to dive into my attic and locate a box of fifty of my old Ladybird books dating back to the late 1960s. They are mostly educational books covering everything from "Madam Curie" to "Making a Transistor Radio". There was even my old favourite, "In the Train With Uncle Mac".

Like many other children I learnt to read at an early age with the help of Peter and Jane and their faithful sidekick Pat the Dog. (What a pun that was!) How I loved the illustrations in all of the books, they seemed to portray an ideal world, totally unspoilt.
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Re: Ladybird books

Post by Moonraker »

It's an amazing book. It is a delight to hold. The nostalgia value is off the scale. Having said all that, I haven't bought it yet. I was going to, and went into Smith's to buy it, but saw an incredible book on London pubs, and bought that instead.

Ah well, nostalgia ain't what it was. Image
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Re: Ladybird books

Post by Susie »

Anita Bensoussane wrote: Have any other Ladybird fans seen this book? What did you think of it?
Anita
Yes I saw it today, I flipped through it in Whsmith, I liked the cooking part and red rover. (School games) One thing that amazed me was the author said that he never felt he was in school when he was younger, to him it was like a glorious holiday. How come? I don't know anyone who has ever felt like that. have you?
There is always something else new to learn.
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Anita Bensoussane
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Re: Ladybird books

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

[Susie:] One thing that amazed me was the author said that he never felt he was in school when he was younger, to him it was like a glorious holiday. How come? I don't know anyone who has ever felt like that. have you?
It surprised me as well that Robert Elms claims to "barely remember being at school as a small kid." Obviously his teachers didn't inspire him as much as his Ladybird books did!
[Petermax:] Like many other children I learnt to read at an early age with the help of Peter and Jane and their faithful sidekick Pat the Dog. (What a pun that was!) How I loved the illustrations in all of the books, they seemed to portray an ideal world, totally unspoilt.
I learnt to read at home with "Peter and Jane" too, as did my own children. I have a mixture of early (1950s-60s?) and later (1970s) editions of the books, and when I used them with my son he would comment on how Jane's clothes and hair kept altering - eg they might look the same in books 1 and 3 (1970s versions) but different in book 2 (earlier version)!

One thing I like about the Peter and Jane books is that the children play with real toys - eg. in the 1970s illustrations they have a Hornby station and tunnel just like the ones my sister and I used to have, as well as a Sindy doll and a rag doll based on Jemima from Playschool. They also eat recognisable sweets, such as Liquorice Allsorts, and read Ladybird books (often about themselves!)

Anita
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
- E. Nesbit, The Wonderful Garden.


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Susie
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Re: Ladybird books

Post by Susie »

I remember playing Queenie and red rover, I remember with Queenie it seemed to always go over the school gates or into an open window. It was played with a small bouncy ball.
With red rover someone always hurt themselves.
http://www.vintageladybird.com/readityourself.html
you can read a bit of it.
There is always something else new to learn.
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Petermax
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Re: Ladybird books

Post by Petermax »

Susie wrote:I remember playing Queenie and red rover
At my primary school we played a similar game called Kingy or a slightly modified version of it rather. Basically it involved throwing tennis balls at peoples ears, children can be so cruel at times. Another favourite was British Bulldog, a game that involved fifty or more players stampeding across the playground. Both games were eventually banned on safety grounds along with conkers and snowball fights!
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Anita Bensoussane
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Re: Ladybird books

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Ooh - British Bulldog was immense fun! My best friend and I were the British Bulldog Champions at school at the age of about 12 - even the boys were scared of us! :) My coat and jumper got ripped so many times from playing that game, though!

Anita
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
- E. Nesbit, The Wonderful Garden.


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Post by manzanita »

Stephen wrote:This year, I've actually acquired the following on ebay...

The Three Billy-goats Gruff (1968)
The Gingerbread Boy (1966)
The Magic Porridge Pot (1971)
The Elves and the Shoemaker (1965)
Ooh, I had those as a child! I was trying to remember the other day what the one with the pot that kept cooking was called! I also had "Chicken Licken" and one about a pancake that rolls away through the village causing mayhem.

Recently I acquired one about nurses, I was doing a BSc in Midwifery at the time. It was an interesting read from an historical perspective and even though it was a book aimed at children, really showed how nurses and hospitals were organised.

I love the old fashioned diction of those books. Somehow really archaic but no so archaic it's totally unrecognisable.

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Anita Bensoussane
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Re: Ladybird books

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Thought Ladybird fans might be interested to know that Ladybird have brought out a boxed set of vintage books "for girls" :

http://www.penguin.co.uk/nf/Book/BookDi ... 94,00.html" target="_blank

It contains facsimiles of six titles - Shopping With Mother, Helping at Home, The Nurse, In a Big Store, A Ladybird Book About Knitting and Understanding Maps. A boxed set "for boys" is due out in May but I can't find any information about which titles will be included in that. I bought the "for girls" set from Waterstones today as it's currently on special offer there (£9.99) and I had a Waterstones token anyway. A lovely selection and I particularly like J. H. Wingfield's illustrations. The books smell nice too - I always was rather partial to the smell of a brand new matt Ladybird book! If anyone's interested it's worth looking on Amazon or similar sites as they're usually cheaper than the shops (and postage and packing is free if you spend over a certain amount.)

Anita
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
- E. Nesbit, The Wonderful Garden.


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Anita Bensoussane
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Re: Ladybird books

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

I had the chance to read my new Ladybird books last night while my husband was engrossed in the football and, although I still think they're nice-looking books, I feel there is room for improvement. Of the six titles in the boxed set, I already own vintage copies of two of them - Shopping With Mother (albeit in tatty condition) and Helping at Home. Comparing those with the new editions, I did notice a few differences. The pictures in the new printing of Shopping With Mother have been "brightened," resulting in the loss of some detail here and there, eg. in the folds and buttons on Susan's coat. And many items that were originally yellow have come out either completely green or with a green tinge to them, such as Mother's scarf, Susan's beret, John's toy car and the daffodils. A few other colours are not quite right either, though minor variations in colour do occur from book to book even in early editions.

Turning to Helping at Home, the illustrated endpapers are poor in the new version. They have only been reproduced at the end of the book, not at the beginning, and the picture has come out very faint with a lot of details missing altogether. The colour is good throughout this book but for some reason each picture has been slightly enlarged, meaning that the edges of the picture have been trimmed and part of the original illustration has been lost.

Having said all that, the books still have the "feel" of the originals, being the same size and format and using the same typeface. They're a bit chunkier than the norm as the covers have been made from slightly thicker cardboard, but that's fine by me as it makes them more durable.

There's a lovely picture in Helping at Home of a mother and daughter picking flowers and, in that particular illustration, the mother looks rather like Enid Blyton! Hopefully, you can see a scan here:

Image

Anita
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
- E. Nesbit, The Wonderful Garden.


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