Helen Day shares her love of Ladybird books
Alex Corlett is sitting comfortably as Helen Day tells the story behind her collection of vintage Ladybird books.
THE Ladybird books were born in 1915, the brainchild of publishers Henry Wills and William Hepworth. The Loughborough-based pair had a vision of producing “pure and healthy” literature for children, and their model proved a hit.
Their distinctive size was a result of their redesign in 1940 – when a single standard-sized paper sheet of 40 x 30 inches could be folded to produce the 56 pages without any wasted trimmings.
Between their educational titles and their stories, Ladybird books were a huge part of many a childhood, and often the starting point for a life-long love of literature.
It’s no surprise, then, that there are some who collect these little gems.
Helen Day is one of the country’s best-known collectors, with a website dedicated to the artwork of Ladybird books.
“I grew up surrounded by books – both my parents were teachers, and growing up, I couldn’t tell you the colour of the walls in our house as every spare inch was dedicated to books!
“I vividly remember being given a copy of ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ and ‘Goldilocks’ on my fourth birthday.
“I still have that copy – with my shaky name inscription – but I can’t remember a time when there weren’t Ladybird books lying around the house.
“They just seemed part of the fabric of my childhood.”
It was Helen’s son that brought her attention back to them years later, when she noticed his reaction to them.
“When my son was about one, I wanted to put together a collection of books I’d enjoyed as a child to share with him.
“Someone gave me a bag of old books destined for the charity shop – and in there was a battered copy of ‘Shopping With Mother’ and ‘Talkabout Home’.
“I showed them to my baby son and I noticed the way his eyes scanned the illustrations, ‘reading’ the pictures and absorbing them in a way that I hadn’t noticed before with the sketchy, cartoony illustrations of more modern books.”
Helen began scouring car-boot sales, jumble sales and charity shops.
“I noticed that the books were published in different series and that the series were numbered.
“I must have the collecting gene, because then it became a mission to complete a series and then to complete all the series.”
With her husband’s help, her house was soon full of them.
“As a child, my favourites were the fairy tales and the history books. According to school and to Ladybird, there weren’t many women in history!
“So if Ladybird published any book with a female main character, I wanted to buy it.
“Queen Elizabeth I became my heroine, and I also loved Florence Nightingale and Joan of Arc. But I read and reread them all.
“First the pictures drew me in, then the text, and then the pictures again.
“They were always crammed with detail and colour, and you could visit them many times and find something different to look at.”
Helen’s son enjoyed the history books, and loved a newer series called “Puddle Lane”.
“This worked like magic with my son; he read for the joy of the story, moving from book to book because he knew and liked the characters and wanted to know what happened next.
“There isn’t one single method to teach a child to read; different approaches
work with different children.”
With a massive collection stored in her house, Helen began to share her vintage favourites on a website.
“When I started collecting the books, the internet was only beginning to establish itself in our everyday life and it was quite hard to find out more about the books and the company.
“I went out to Whsmith and bought a book called ‘Teach Yourself HTML’ and slowly, painfully, began to hand-code a website.
“It took nearly a year, but when my site was up and running I found that all sorts of people were getting in touch!
“Ex-employees of the company, other collectors, families of artists, models, writers and managers all had their stories to tell.
“Little by little my interest switched from book-collecting to curating the stories of everyone involved. It’s a remarkable story that really covers the whole of the twentieth century, ending rather neatly in 1999.”
This was when the company merged with Penguin.
“Probably the most famous Ladybird fan that I know of was Diana, Princess of Wales. She visited the Loughborough factory in 1990 and told staff there what her favourite books were – the fairy tale books, ‘Rumpelstiltskin’ in particular.”
What’s more, Helen’s reputation has led to some interesting projects along the way.
“Who would have thought that a daft hobby, persistence and a bit of passion could develop in all the ways it has?
“I’ve been asked to write for national papers and the BBC. I’ve been interviewed on TV and radio.
“I’ve been consultant to the Royal Mail and have helped research books, articles and exhibitions.
“One of the most surreal moments was entertaining Kim Wilde in my livingroom as part of an episode of ‘Celebrity Antiques Road Trip’.
“Best of all are the people that I’ve met: so many warm, friendly and quirky people only too happy to share with me their anecdotes and experiences, and to help me put together the pieces of the Ladybird story.
“Then, of course, there’s the exhibition!
“This came about because the more I learned about Ladybird books, the more I came to appreciate how far the publisher’s success came from the brilliance of the artwork.
“Although few of the artists were well-known, their work had an effect on so many childhoods.
“This means it’s all something of a nostalgiafest even for those who don’t have particularly strong memories of Ladybird.
“Let’s be honest, having a travelling exhibition also relieves the pressure on my little house to contain my collection of books and original artwork.
“It’s very nice to be able to borrow other people’s walls and to show it all off!”
Helen’s been bowled over by the reaction to the exhibition since it opened in 2018.
“Museum staff tell me that visitors have a very emotional response to the exhibits, that people stand in front of the ‘Wall of Books’ and just want to talk to strangers nearby, to exchange memories and anecdotes from childhood.
“One of the loveliest things to witness is adults sharing well-loved children’s books with their children or grandchildren.
“It was important to me that the books in the exhibition wouldn’t just be behind glass.
“There’s a browsing area with a heap of old Ladybird books for visitors to handle – a space where people of all ages can sit and browse, remember or share stories with a child.” ■