Eye Magazine

Generations of children have grown up with Ladybird books. Between 1940 and 1980, 646 hardback titles were produced, each a handy size for little fingers, with clear text and vivid, realistic pictures. Boys And Girls: A Ladybird Book of Childhood (Ladybird Books, £20), is divided into themes such as ‘at home’ and ‘finding out’, and has work by more than twenty artists, including John Berry and Martin Aitchison (see Eye 52) plus short memoirs by Wayne Hemingway, comedian Rowland Rivron and others. Spread on right shows Berry’s The Policeman, 1962, and Danger Men, 1970, by F. Humphris. A disclaimer warns that ‘some of the activities described may not be suitable for the modern home.’

Clare Walters, writer, children’s author, London

First published in Eye no. 66 vol. 17 2007

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