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Helen Day

@lbflyawayhome.bsky.social

12K followers 1.2K following 1.7K posts

Devoted to vintage Ladybird books and the other work of their artists. My exhibition The Wonderful World of the Ladybird Artists has been travelling since 2018. Twitter: @lbflyawayhome

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Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 2h

Ladybird Book Nature Corner
Red squirrel
Artist: Septimus Scott

A red squirrel is posing on an oak branch, nibbling on an acorn in typical squirrel fashion

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Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 14h

Beautiful everyday Ladybird things.
The Trimphone
(How it Works: The Telephone, 1972)
Artist: BH Robinson

Photo realistic illustration of a green trimphone on a beige background.

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Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 1d

British Birds and their Nests ‘Goldfinch’ (1953)
Artist: Allen Seaby

A soft focus illustration of a pair of goldfinch eating the seeds of thistles. The main attraction of the illustration is the depiction of the different textures in soft hues

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Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 1d

Other work by the Ladybird artists
‘October’
(From a 1958 calendar by the always fabulous Ronald Lampitt)

A scene on a busy, beautifully tended allotment. The star of the scene is the wonderfully delicate, slightly hazy October light.

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Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 2d

Gardening
(Helping at Home, 1961)
Artist: Harry Wingfield

Two small children help their dad weed and tidy a flower bed on a chilly early autumn day

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Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 2d

“A full harvest moon is rising, though it is still only twilight”

Artist: CF Tunnicliffe
Writer: EL GrantWatson

A barn owl is perched on a wall at dusk. A full moon has risen in the still blue sky above a small village.

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Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 3d

Brands
1976
Artist: Harry Wingfield
(And the tin says ‘Cocoa’!)

Two children are playing‘shop’. On the table for Jane, the customer, are a series of very recognisable products including Marmite and Birds custard powder

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Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 4d

‘A breezy day’
(From a pre-war Ladybird - circa 1935)
Artist: Rene Cloke

1930s style illustration of two children walking in Woodland. Their clothes are being tugged by the breeze and hats are blowing away.

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Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 4d

Ladybird books in the spotlight.
‘Beauty’s Mirror’
Beauty and the Beast (1968)
Artist: Eric Winter

Beauty looks into the gold-framed mirror which reflects an image of her father lying on his sick bed

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Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 4d

Which, I should’ve said, is illustrated by Roland Green

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Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 5d

Ladybird books in the spotlight:
British Birds and their Nests (1953 - 1956)
Artist: Allen Seaby

Front covers of the three books which were the first real non-fiction books for older children that Ladybird produced and were the start of the phenomenal increase in sales

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Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 5d

Other work by the Ladybird artists.
‘Ludlow Castle’ (Readers Digest magazine)
Artist: SR Badmin

Finally detailed mixed media illustration of a view looking down into the Severn Valley and up towards Ludlow Castle, surrounded by autumn trees

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Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 6d

Lichen, algae, funghi
‘Plants and how they Live’ (1965)

Artist: Ronald Lampitt

An illustrative diagram showing range of different fungi etc, set under a tree in autumn

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Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 6d

Beautiful everyday Ladybird things
‘Blankets’
Artist: Gerald Witcomb
(Sounds and Pictures, 1976)

A photo realistic illustration of three traditional wool blankets neatly folded one on top of the other

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Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 7d

Bright-eyed, bushy-tailed?
1st of October

(Bob Bushtail, 1941)
Artist: A Macgregor

A mother red squirrel brushes the bushy tail of a baby red squirrel as he stands on a stool

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Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 7d

“An example of the town of the future is Coventry.... Traffic and pedestrians are kept apart and the roads are planned to let traffic flow smoothly”

(Our Land in the Making, 1966)
Artist: Ronald Lampitt

Illustration of the precinct shopping centre in Coventry, with its shiny 1960s architecture, walkways and colourful flower planters

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Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 8d

On this day 30th September 1868 the first volume of 'Little Women' by Louisa May Alcott was published.

Artist: Terry Gabbey

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Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 8d

Ladybird book in the spotlight.
‘The Gingerbread Boy’ (1966)
Artist: Robert Lumley

The front cover of the book, featuring the gingerbread boy gleefully running away from the old woman and old man

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Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 9d

The modern world in old Ladybird books.

"Carriages get very dirty inside from all the tobacco ash"

(On the Railways, 1972)
Artist: John Berry

A photo realistic illustration of a woman in overalls, hoovering and deep cleaning the fabric seats of a railway carriage

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Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 9d

Spoken like a true book collector 👍

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Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 9d

I have to be fair to all the books in my house and the non-ladybirds deserve their day in the sun.
Actually, a bit of Ladybird Land has infiltrated here too

Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 9d

No! How very dare you 😀

Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 9d

Exactly. A rolling ladder - that’s the dream.
I’ve just got to be double sure of the measurements because of safety

Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 9d

The Penguins are not lacking - top right.
Without a ladder, I haven’t got around to arranging them properly

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Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 9d

Progress so far with my new (almost Ladybird-free) bookshelves.

No ladder as yet, but one day soon.

Photograph of a living room with very high ceilings.
I am standing in front of an enormous bookcase lined with books

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