bc Collecting Ladybird Pocket books, links to other sites and Yahoo Ladybird groups. CB&M, Blue Mountains, NSW, Australia

Four of my favourites
 LADYBIRD Pocket Books
Updated 28th August, 2023.
 Just ONE page on the Collecting Books and Magazines web site based in Australia.
 Any problems or questions? Please e-mail the page author John.

This is an introductory page only. For more comprehensive details, please check out the following sites.
 Please let me know of non-operating links and new sites.
 Official LADYBIRD site ok 5.15
 Helen's LADYBIRD site ok 5.15

Number of Titles in print, 1957 to 1974
Found in Sydney, 2003

Ladybird Books Limited, of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England, grew out of printers Wills and Hepworth. Harry Wills began as a printer and became a publisher with 'Wills' Almanac, Trade Guide and Street Dictionary' which first appeared towards the end of last century. Wills took on William Hepworth as a partner in 1906. The new partnership produced their first children's books for the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. Wills died prior to the Great War and Hepworth decided to establish the company's own imprint. LADYBIRD was registered in 1915 but it would be another 25-plus years before the now familiar standardised format was developed. New printing techniques in the 1930s enabled colour to be printed cheaply, thus a 52-page book with pages 115 x 175 mm could be produced from a sheet of paper 75 x 100 cm. The first familiar-sized books to appear were sold for only 2/6 or 12p (15 cents). This remained unchanged for the next 30 years, despite inflation. Some of the first titles to appear were aimed at younger children, for example, 'The Five Little Kittens'.

The full story can be read in THE LADYBIRD STORY, a 9-page article, by George Towers, available from Ladybird Books Limited.


 Click on the image above if you'd like to discuss Ladybird, Wonder Books, Modern World, Observers or any similar 1950s non-fiction series books on this NEW Faebook fage.

THE BOOKS
The number before the slash refers to the series, the number after the slash, the title (if numbered). The books are listed below in strict alphabetical order by the titles as they appear on the spine. Rather than list all titles (!!), I've listed the ones in my own collection as at 1999. Use the links above for more comprehensive information. In the 9 years since this page went online, I've found another thousand or so (2008).

Natural history group comprising titles in any way related to animals, birds, insects - the living world.
A Ladybird Book about Dogs 682/1
Animals of the World: Australian Mammals 691/2
A Third Book of British Birds dj 536
Birds and How they Live 651/3
British Wild Animals 536
British Wild Flowers dj 536
Indoor Gardening 633/3
Natural History: Prehistoric Animals and Fossils 651/6
Sea and Estuary Birds 536/21
What to Look for in Winter dj 536

People at Work series 606B
The Airman in the Royal Air Force /11
The Car Makers /13
The Fisherman dj /4
The Life-boatman /16
The Nurse /3
The Policeman /2
The Pottery Makers /15

Thomas the Tank Engine series 848
Daisy /13
Edward, Gordon and Henry /6
Percy Runs Away /1
Thomas and Bertie /4
Thomas and Trevor /9
Thomas's Christmas Party /7
Thomas and the Stout Gentleman /5
Thomas and the Missing Christmas Tree /14

Adventure from History series 561
Captain Scott /16
Christopher Columbus /12
Cleopatra and Ancient Egypt /22
David Livingstone /10
Florence Nightingale /7
Joan of Arc /28
Julius Caesar and Roman Britain dj /8
King Alfred the Great /1
Madame Curie SERIES 708 Lives of the Great Scientists
Oliver Cromwell /15
Richard the Lionheart /19
The Story of Captain Cook /6
The Story of Henry V /14
The Story of Napoleon /26
The Story of Nelson /4
William the Conqueror /2

Key Words Reading Scheme consists of 36 books in 3 series (1 to 12 a,b,c).
1a Play with Us
3b Boys and girls
6b We like to help
7b Fun and games
9b Jump from the sky
10a Adventure on an island
10b Adventure at the castle
11a Mystery on the island
12a The holiday camp mystery
12b Mountain adventure

Jack and Jill Books copyrighted by Fleetway but appear to be Ladybird
Katie Country Mouse to the Rescue /3
Jack and Jill and the Baker's nightingale /11

The Bible series and related titles
Animals, Birds and Plants of the Bible 649/1
The Child of the Temple dj 522/1
Jesus Calls His Disciples dj 522/9
Moses, Prince and Shepherd dj 522/5
Stories about Children of The Bible 606A EASY READING
The Little Lord Jesus 522/3
The Lord's Prayer 612
The parable of The Sower 606A/6
The parable of the two new houses 606A/7
Stories about Jesus the Friend dj 606
The Shepherd Boy of Bethlehem 522/2
The Story of Daniel 522/7
The Story of Joseph dj 522/4
The Story of Saint Paul 522/11
Two Stories Jesus Told dj 522/6

Technology series of books which includes Junior Science and How to
Air, wind and Flight 621/3
A Ladybird Book of Merchant Ships 584/6
Churches and Cathedrals 601/8
Commercial Vehicles 584/4
Exploring space 601/9 varieties
Flight 1: Australia dj 587/1
Flight 2: Canada 587/2
Flight 3: USA 587/3
Flight 4: India 587/4
Flight 5: Africa 587/5
Flight 6: The Holy Land 587/6
Great Inventions 601/2
How it works: Farm Machinery 654/9
How it works: The Camera 654/8
Light, Mirrors and Lenses dj 621/2
Magnets, Bulbs and Batteries 621/1
Musical Instruments 662/1

 Technology series cont
The Ladybird Book of Aircraft 584
The Public Services: Electricity 606E/1
The Story of Arms and Armour 601/17
The Story of Clothes and Costume dj 601/7
The Story of Flight 601/1
The Story of Houses and Homes 601/6
The Story of Nuclear Power 601/20
The Story of Newspapers 601/14
The Story of Our Canals 601/25
The Story of Railways 601/3
The Story of Ships dj 601/4
The Story of the Motor Car dj 601/5

Fiction, performing arts and travel series
Baby's First Book 413
Ballet 662/3 HISTORY OF THE ARTS
Beaky the Greedy Duck dj 497
Book of the film: Rupert and the frog song
Come to Denmark 606G/2
Dinosaurs 737/7
Discovering places: The Tower of London 861
Early Learning: 100 Nursery Rhymes 866
Early Learning: Third Picture Book 704
Early Learning: Fourth Picture Book 704
Early Learning: Telling the time 563
Famous Legends book 2 740/6
Fiction-read it yourself: Cinderella 777
Fiction-read it yourself: Robinson Crusoe 777
Fiction Robin Hood 740
Fiction: Robin Hood Outlawed-Dunkerley 740
Fiction: The strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde 841
Fiction: The Three Musketeers 740
History: The Story of the Theatre 662
How to do it: Woodwork 731/1
In the wilderness with Uncle Mac dj 455
Learnabout: Cooking no number
London dj 618
Our Land in the Making book 2 663/2
Read it yourself: Peter and the Wolf no number
Shopping with Mother 563/3
Talkabout shopping 735
Talkabout starting school 735
The Princess and the Pea 606D/9
The Stories of our Christmas Customs dj 644
The Wolf and the Seven Little Kids 606D/16
Things to Make 633
The Ambush: A Ladybird Robin Hood Adventure dj 549
The Silver Arrow: A Ladybird Robin Hood Adventure dj 549
The Party dj 563
The Circus Comes to Town 413/10
The Green Umbrella dj 401
The Snowman-The Adventures of Wonk dj 417
The Wise Robin dj/tipped cover plate 497
Tootles the Taxi dj 413
Your Body 536/19

THE LADYBIRD SERIES-minimum number in each. Series Titles noted only if certain.
401-13
413-Nursery rhymes and stories-11
417-6
455-6
497-10
522-12
536-Nature-24
549-2
561-20
563-Learning to read-9
584-Recognition-6
587-Travel adventure-6
601-Achievements-27
606-Easy reading(may have been split up)-2
606A-Bible stories-10
606B-People at work-19
606D-27
606E-The public services-3
606G-2
612-1
621-Junior science-4
633-15
649-3
651-Natural history-6
654-How it works-14
662-7
663-2
682-2
691-Animals of the world-7
701-3
702-Learning with traditional rhymes and stories-8
704-5
731-16
735-Talkabout-11
737-Leaders-3
740-20
777-20
793-Garden Gang Stories-14
832-First picture books-3
833-4
841-Horror Classics-4
848-Thomas the Tank Engine-14
861-Discovering-5
866-Nursery rhymes-5
Key words-36 (Not numbered as a series to my knowledge.)

TITLES in print - taken from book blurbs.
1957-140
1964-290
1966-230
1967-190
1969-370
1971-280
1974-350

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