Window shopping

Ladybird books display 1950s

Ladybird books are lovely things. They pull gently at childhood memories if you are old enough to remember reading them. For younger sorts, there is any amount of dubious Ladybird product out there now, exploiting the imagery with none of the quality and intent of the original books.

I actually have a very few Ladybird books on my shelves. Shopping with Mother and one or two others. It would be very easy to get swept in to collecting the lot. They look great lined up together and the illustrations would keep me quiet for days. But plenty of other people are archiving Ladybird books, researching the titles, authors and artists in retentive detail.

One site has some great images of Ladybird books being made and sold, where I found this gem. This contextual material is much more interesting to me than exhaustive histories of versions and series’. A bit of book. A bit of window display. What could be nicer?

This window is crammed with Ladybird books and carries the words: The Craven Herald Ltd. The Herald, it seems, is a paper that has been the ‘Voice of the Dales since 1853’. I wonder if this window was in Craven and what the occasion was for the photo? It dates from the 1950s.

Had I been there at the time a bit of nose pressing against the window would surely have been happening.

14 Comments

Rebecca

Gorgeous! Our lovely independent local bookshop, Books and Ink in Banbury, has lots of Ladybird books on their shelves. Like orange Penguins, they have a very reassuring presence.

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Elizabeth Dobson

The Craven Herald has operated from Skipton (-in-Craven), Gateway to the Dales, for as long as I can remember. As a child in the 60s/early 70s I remember its beautiful Victorian shopfront, which I think is still there, as is the Craven Herald to the best of my knowledge. Just FYI!

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shelf appeal

Good to know. I do wonder if this window is that ‘beautiful Victorian shopfront’ then?

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shelf appeal

Oh, I bought a beautiful old Puffin picture book from them online, over priced but yet a beaut. Don’t know John Hinde but obviously I should. Can’t wait.

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simon robinson's house

‘retentive’ of Sheffield says – wonder if this is an Easter type promotion? The large background photo is from the cover of The Conceited Lamb. This series began in 1949 and carried on through the fifties. Sadly without contemporary catalogues (or a run of Bookseller) it’s hard to be exact.
Yours, not expecting a reply of course, Simon.

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shelf appeal

It all looks sufficiently lamb and piglet-y to be an Easter display. Do you mean to say you have neither a run of contemporary catalogues nor a run of Bookseller? Standards are slipping in bookish Sheffield, I see.

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