Ladybird Histories: British History

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Ladybird drops gender-specific children's book titles". BBC News. 21 November 2014 . Retrieved 24 November 2014.

Ladybird began publishing books in other formats in 1980. Most of the remaining titles in the classic format were withdrawn in 1999 when their printing facility in Loughborough closed. The last time I met him was shortly before he died. Sadly, he had lost nearly all his sight, and needed to be helped around by his wife. My mother became very friendly with her after his death. She was a lovely Irish lady, who had met him when he was a young art student. She had been his life model at the time. Armistead, Claire (22 September 2015). "The flyaway success of the Ladybird art prank". The Guardian . Retrieved 20 August 2016. Gani, Aisha (12 October 2015). "Ladybird books introduce Peter and Jane to hipsters and hangovers". The Guardian . Retrieved 30 December 2015.In short, in terms of children’s book publishing at this time, Wills & Hepworth were making things up as they went along. And that’s no small part of the charm for me. Ladybird Books is a London-based publishing company, trading as a stand-alone imprint within the Penguin Group of companies. The Ladybird imprint publishes mass-market children's books. a b joint venture with Amperwelle Studio München Programmanbietergesellschaft, Axel Springer AG, Burda, Studio Gong, m.b.t. Mediengesellschaft der bayerischen Tageszeitungen für Kabelkommunikation, Medienpool and Radio Bavaria Rundfunkprogrammgesellschaft. Wills & Hepworth began publishing Ladybird books in 1914. Their range of children’s books evolved into Ladybird books the 1940s. Ladybird books today Johnson, Lorraine; Alderson, Brian (2014). The Ladybird Story: children's books for everyone. London: British Library. p.13. ISBN 978-0-7123-5728-9.

As a child, I was particularly fond of the History series and he illustrated Henry VIII, Drake and Hannibal. The illustrations have all the colour and gusto you would associate with a classic Ladybird history book. But for some reason they never felt like old friends to me – I expect it was because my eye was tuned-in to the style of artist John Kenney who had illustrated almost all the previous history books. After the company was sold in the 1970s, a number of the original history titles were completely re-written and re-illustrated and Humphris produced a couple of these. But to a child who has grown up with one version, a new edition feels like an outrage.The Ladybird Books Ltd. Collection was put on long term loan at the University of Reading in 2004 and forms part of the designated British Publishing and Printing Archive. Since then, the collection has benefited from additions and acquisitions by both Ladybird Books and the University of Reading, and also includes a reference library of editions.