Are vintage Ladybird books valuable?

Keep an eye out for vintage Ladybird books at the car boot sale or on online marketplaces like eBay. You could find gold dust between its hard covers

A general view of The Ladybird Book Of The Hipster on display in Foyles bookshop
(Image credit: Ben Pruchnie/Getty Images)

These days you can find Ladybird books exploring everything from the mid-life crisis to hangovers – examples from a spoof series released by Penguin, which bought the publisher in 1998, to capitalise on the nostalgia and resurgent interest in the series of children’s books. There doesn’t yet seem to be a Ladybird Book of Investing. It would be fun to follow the adventures of the original child protagonists, Peter and Jane, as they pore over balance sheets and the latest earnings reports.

Ladybird had its origins in Henry Wills’ bookshop in Loughborough, established in 1867, Michael Wood explains in BBC History Magazine. The first books appeared in 1914, but the golden age of Ladybird spans the years 1940-1975, when the series evolved beyond stories to cover science, history and nature (and, more recently, How it Works: The Wife). “These snapshots of ‘Our Island Story’ are nationalist, white, largely male; kings such as Alfred are noble and merciful, and the empire is still a Good Thing,” says Woods. Naturally, they are a product of their time, he notes, but many of the stories have stuck with us “like myths”.

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Chris Carter
Wealth Editor, MoneyWeek

Chris Carter spent three glorious years reading English literature on the beautiful Welsh coast at Aberystwyth University. Graduating in 2005, he left for the University of York to specialise in Renaissance literature for his MA, before returning to his native Twickenham, in southwest London. He joined a Richmond-based recruitment company, where he worked with several clients, including the Queen’s bank, Coutts, as well as the super luxury, Dorchester-owned Coworth Park country house hotel, near Ascot in Berkshire.

Then, in 2011, Chris joined MoneyWeek. Initially working as part of the website production team, Chris soon rose to the lofty heights of wealth editor, overseeing MoneyWeek’s Spending It lifestyle section. Chris travels the globe in pursuit of his work, soaking up the local culture and sampling the very finest in cuisine, hotels and resorts for the magazine’s discerning readership. He also enjoys writing his fortnightly page on collectables, delving into the fascinating world of auctions and art, classic cars, coins, watches, wine and whisky investing.

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