It would be a hard task to find a reader who has not associated with the famous 'Ladybird' books. The legendary book series has not been a boring passage or at least the 'Well-loved tales' series which has pulled millions of young readers worldwide. So why would I want to mention this popular series today.
Well, it may be a fascinating phenomenon that I thought I should share with you fellow readers. Time and time again we tend to dwell in the beautiful, romantic, brave or witty world of children's literature associated with great examples of Walt Disney, Brother Grimm or Hans Andersen's imaginations.
It would not be a cliche that most of us had those stories tucked away in our mind when we were kids and still linger on that vivid imagination of good overcoming the bad or the evil at the end.
Needless to mention, after so many years of the first stint of that magic taste of literature, I searched for the trends in the Ladybird books with special reference to the most read tales of all time e.g. Cinderella, Beauty and the beast, Dick Whittington and his cat, Sleeping beauty and the three little pigs etc. My intention was to accumulate a mini collection of these fabulous 50 paged marvels for myself.
But the task proved to be more than just an easy one as the original Ladybird books printed and published during late 1950s and 60s turned out to be somewhat of a research. Such research can only be going down as a pleasure seeking than anything else.
I roamed around a few London, reading bookshops in getting clues to the whereabouts of these books. Occasionally I was lucky enough in obtaining some news where these might be available to purchase. Apart from few second hand book sellers who have stocked in some tatty torn or with spine completely ripped it was another bad day at the office.
The art of reading a book is not just to flick through the leaves of the book but to feel the actual aroma or the essence of the book, something that had dwelled in my school days.
It has often been my down side in this respect so I was really determined to scoop another path to obtain it. One of the sellers offered me the later version of the Ladybird series printed in the 1990s which had less vibes in comparison to the 60s. The Eric Winter illustrations were missing though the text of Vera Southgate was still intact. It was Winter's vivid pictures that stole millions of young hearts in the 1960s, not the modern day sketches of coloured pencils.
The 1960s copies were sold for about 15p or 30p an equivalent to modern day 2 to 4 sterling pounds or little higher.
Now that the internet, is a profound tool in many cases, I took to the computer and surfed the internet in search of Ladybird books. There was very interesting news about how the young generation adhered to these classic children's literature. In a period where the youngsters have the privilege of playing with 'play station' and other computer games there's still a considerable amount of Ladybird lovers around notably those of the 'well-loved tales' series.
The excitement was just the tip of the iceberg as I was searching for more information on where to purchase those books. The internet users may well be aware that there are a number of online auction sites where you can actually buy the Ladybird books upon bidding within a particular period.
The most significant part of this quest is what types of Ladybird books are available for sale and what editions they belong to etc.
Being a Ladybird enthusiast I was in desperate measures for hanging on to mint copies of the olden days, but the task seemed remote as the mirage in the desert when I saw the slow mounting of the final price in the auction! Nevertheless, I managed to pocket a few copies of those magic tales despite the price which went through the roof. Gladly that was money well spent and no quibble about it as that was just the cherry on the icing.
This may sound a pleasant surprise but there's a growing culture of yesteryear Ladybird collectors in the UK.
The trend seems to be popular among the age group of 30-40 years who apparently buy those books from the online auction sites for hefty sums and equally a number of sellers who would not mind pocketing a decent dosh for their valuable assets after all. (vidhumahendra@hotmail.com).
