Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Ladybird’s the word for Helen
LADYBIRD book expert Helen Day puts the final touches to the wall of books that makes up the centrepiece of a new exhibition celebrating the iconic children’s favourites.
The Museum of Gloucester is hosting the highlights of a collection that Helen has been compiling for the past 20 years.
“I started buying up books when my son was born,” she said.
“I thought about what I enjoyed as a child and started to pick them up from car boot sales and jumble sales.”
Helen may have begun as a collector but she soon got interested in their social history.
“I’ve got all the books several times over,” she said. “I’ve moved onto collecting the history of the company and individuals involved, from correspondence to publicity material and anything related.”
The wall consists of roughly 500 books from the golden era of the publisher – from 1940 to the mid1970s, when it was sold.
One of the last books printed was What On Earth Are We Doing?, written by the editorial director Douglas Keen, the only one he wrote himself as he was so passionate about the environment.
Ladybird was ahead of its time in bringing this issue to young minds in its desire to educate.
Starting today and running until September, the exhibition is celebrating the artists and creative minds that were behind the classic pocket-sized books that we all know and love.
Martin Aitchison, who died in 2016, was the last artist of this golden era but, besides Ladybird books, he worked with Barnes Wallace during the Second World War to create designs for the Dambusters’ bouncing bombs.
When asked what her favourite book was, Helen said: “I just can’t choose – it’s like picking your favourite child. But if you asked five-yearold me I loved Cinderella and Elizabeth I.”