Vintage books

Ladybird Tuesday – A Ladybird Book of Musical Instruments

May 4, 2020 by penny Leave a Comment

With plenty of lockdown home-schooling going on here I feel so fortunate for my huge collection of vintage Ladybird books. With only one laptop between two school age kids, there have been plenty of occasions where I’ve needed a second information source that isn’t screen based. Luckily my Ladybird collection covers most subjects in enough details that it fill an information gap caused by not being able to access google. That’s certainly what happened with A Ladybird Book of Musical Instruments.

Ladybird Tuesday - A Ladybird Book of Musical Instruments Cover

My 9 year old (Year 5) daughter’s music homework the other week was to think about the four different sections in an orchestra (strings woodwind, brass and percussion) and try to list all the different musical instruments in each one.

She made a first stab with knowledge that she’d picked up from school, but after that drew a bit of a blank. I could fill in a few more gaps, but it’s over 20 years since I last played in a school orchestra and so I too couldn’t remember everything. No problem once I’d laid my hands on this book.

Ladybird Tuesday - A Ladybird Book of Musical Instruments

A Ladybird Book of Musical Instruments starts by explaining how we hear sounds, and a little bit of biology about the human ear. It then goes on to talk about how wound are generated in wind and stringed instruments, before going on to talk about all the different instruments in those categories.

As well as talking about the physical attributes of each instrument, the book also talks about the sounds they make and the styles of music that are most often played with them.

Ladybird Tuesday - A Ladybird Book of Musical Instruments - orchestra diagram

After using the diagram of where everyone in an orchestra sits to do the first part of her homework she then went on to read about all the instruments. The final part was listening to Peter and the Wolf and trying to identify the instruments used in each section. Thanks to the book she was a musical expert by the end.

Ladybird to the rescue for this particular bit of homework, although I’m not sure that when the book was first published in 1966 they ever imagined it being used in a situation like this one!

Ladybird Tuesday is a regular feature here on Penny Reads where I delve into my Ladybird book collection and choose a title to share with my readers. The weekly series originally started on my old blog, Being Mrs C, and this post originally appeared on there. I’m now in the process of moving all those posts over to Penny Reads and also adding titles that I have acquired since then. A list is currently being compiled here of all the titles I have in my collection.

Ladybird Tuesday – Florence Nightingale

April 25, 2020 by penny Leave a Comment

Ladybird Tuesday has had to take a bit of a backseat since lockdown began here in the UK. My Ladybird collection has been incredibly useful in helping me to home school the kids, but in terms of making time to write blog posts, things have been a bit more difficult!

It seems somewhat appropriate right now to start our Ladybird homeschooling journey with the nurse that all the new NHS field hospitals are being names after – Florence Nightingale.

Now, the name Florence Nightingale was already incredibly familiar to loads of people even before this pandemic, but how much do you really know about her? Yes, I could say that she often went by the name of “the Lady with the Lamp”, but that was roughly were my knowledge petered out.

I don’t pretend that the Florence Nightingale book from the Adventures from History series (series 561) is the authoritative guide on the woman, but it is definitely a good starting point, especially for children. It was published as the 7th title in this series, which possibly shows just how important a figure in history she was considered to be back in 1959 when this series was originally published.

Born in Florence, Italy (hence her name) in 1820 Florence’s father was a rich man who returned to England when she was still small. She was. solemn little girl whose favourite game was to pretend that her dolls were sick, and to nurse them back to health. It’s no surprise then that she went on to become a nurse. But, back then nursing was not seen as a profession that a girl from a “good background” should go into, and Florence had to fight to be allowed to go to Germany and Paris to study nursing, which only happened when she was 30.

The Crimean War in 1854 was when Florence went from “just” being a nurse to being probably the most famous nurse there ever was.

Not only was she a nurse, but also a leader and a very determined woman. After hearing how British troops were suffering compared to the French after being injured she responded for a call to go out and nurse the troops. The rest, as they say, is history.

As with so many of the titles in the Adventures in History series, Florence Nightingale gives an excellent first introduction to both the Lady with the Lamp, and also the Crimean War and the change of attitudes to nursing troops injured on the front line. It certainly here in 2020 gives children an excellent insight into why the new NHS hospitals are being named after her.

If you’re looking for a modern book on Florence Nightingale for you children then there is a great selection available on Amazon here. There are also various titles suited to adult readers who want to learn a bit more about her.

Disclaimer: This post contains a couple of Amazon affiliate links marked with a *. If you click on these and buy something from Amazon I receive a small commission, but it will cost you no more than usual. Many thanks for any purchases that you make.

Ladybird Tuesday – People at Work: The Road Makers

March 10, 2020 by penny Leave a Comment

Ladybird Tuesday has had another unplanned break. Blame a poorly little one, and a bit of a crazy time being a school governor. The combination of the two has meant very little time with a laptop or a book lately.

In that time AWOL from here I have had my usual crazy school run routine to follow – which some days results in about three hours on the road. As I found myself sat on the M1 one day staring at the signs it made me think about when a motorway like that was new and how strange it must have seemed. That in turn got me thinking about the Ladybird book on the subject (because, after all there were Ladybird books on pretty much EVERYTHING back then) The Road Makers, one of the titles from the People At Work series (606B).

We’ve visited this series several times now on Ladybird Tuesday (The Fireman, The Builder, The Soldier, The Policeman, The Car Makers, In a Hotel) and it’s one that I keep coming back to again and again as I love it so much. It’s a wonderful snapshot of how things used to be back when they were first published in the 1960s.

Ladybird Tuesday The Road Makers People at Work Ladybird Books Vintage

The Road Makers starts with some of the history of road making from tracks from village to village, to Roman roads, Turnpike roads and through to the first roads designed for motor cars. The most interesting fact for me was that the word “tarmac” comes from “tarmacadam”. This name comes from an engineer called Macadam who designed roads with smaller stones in layers and then a top layer finished with broken stone and grit. These roads were first used for horse drawn vehicles, but when the motor car came along these roads wore away more quickly, so to make the roads wear better tar was mixed with small stones and used for the top layer. This became tarmacadam or tarmac as we know it today.

As road use increased further, the Minster of Transport came into being and this is where The Road Makers starts to show the gender imbalance that was very much present in the 1960s. The book goes on to explain that the Minister’s role is to build new and even better roads, and so as part of doing that he “asks men” to work out where new roads are needed. I’m pretty sure women could have done the job just as well, but in the 1960s they simply didn’t.

After talking about how the new roads and layouts are designed (just look at all those men in the drawing office) and engineered we go on to hear about the men who actually go out and build them physically. And from what I can gather from the pictures in the book, it seems that quite a few tractors are involved in the process!

Civil engineering was never really my forte, but the book provides a fair bit of information on how the roads are built – talking about some of the different stages in the process. I do love the page on service stations though. Out in the open, it looks so quaint and uncluttered compared to what we are used to today.

It is also nice to see mention of the roadside telephones that were installed for people to be able to call for help if they breakdown. With most people carrying mobile phones I guess many of these motorway telephones are now redundant, but I have to admit to having not actually noticed if they are still there or not. I guess I ought to take a look the next time I’m driving on a motorway.

Ladybird Tuesday – Shapes

February 18, 2020 by penny Leave a Comment

I’ve started looking back at my Ladybird Tuesday archive for posts to move over to Penny Reads, but I keep getting lost down the rabbit hole that is my Ladybird collection. I’d forgotten just how many Ladybird Tuesday posts there were over the years, and just how many books I have in my collection. This time round I’m re-visiting Shapes.

Shapes is a book that both Little Miss C and Master C enjoyed immensely when they were younger. This title was published by Ladybird in 1978 and was part of a series of five books (alongside abc, Telling the Time, Counting and Colours) that were designed “to help parents to amuse, interest and at the same time to teach”. On the spine they are identified as “Early Learning” and I think they were originally part of series 563, although this is obviously a later version as the original series was published in the 1950s.

The artwork in this book is very much of the era – lots of bright colours and some of it really quite “arty”. It’s interesting to note that the book was written by Ethel Wingfield and designed by her husband Harry, yet the illustrations are credited to John Scott and Harry Wingfield. I may be wrong, but I’m guessing that Scott was responsible for the modern looking parts and Harry for the more classical looking shell pictures that I’ve featured below.

I find 1970s Ladybird books quite fascinating as there was this obvious desire to update everything and modernise it in some way rather than appreciate the older book designs and illustrations for the wonderful works of art that they were. A shame really, but I suppose it gives collectors like myself more to collect!

It’s been ages since I looked at some of these 70s books and I’d forgotten just how different they were inside to the older Ladybird titles. Time to gig out a few more from my collection I think.

Ladybird Tuesday: The Weather

February 9, 2020 by penny Leave a Comment

After a weekend in which the country has been well and truly battered by Storm Ciara, it seems the perfect time to dust off my copy of The Weather for Ladybird Tuesday.

When I first featured this title back on Being Mrs C it seems that we had also just come out of a week of bad weather. Then again the weather is something us Brits love to talk about. There’s no wonder then that Ladybird included this title in their Nature Series, Series 536.

This book very much focuses on the British Weather and it really does teach you everything you need to know about the weather and meteorology in general. As well as talking about why the British Isles have the weather they do, it goes on to explain high and low pressures and why the winds blow.

In addition to a table detailing the different levels in the Beaufort Scale there is also a nice visual version which is perfect for children who may have some difficulties putting all the descriptions into something they can understand.

Many of the explanations about why weather events happen take me clearly back to my science and geography lessons at school. I can certainly see this book being useful with the kids. When they were much smaller their Dad had a weather station at home and they enjoyed knowing how much rain had fallen in the night and things like that. I may well have to get one so that their little sister can experience the same once she’s a bit older.

I find that so many of these Ladybird books take me back to my childhood when I read them, even if I didn’t have that particular book when I was a child. When I reached the page about thunder and lightening I was instantly taken back to one evening sat in my parents living room when we had a huge thunderstorm which really scared me. At the time I had a book out of the local library which I think was called The Weather Witch – despite my best efforts I just can’t find this at all online. In this book I seem to recall that the witch was responsible for the weather which meant that I was asking my Dad to get her to stop as I didn’t like the thunderstorm. My Dad’s efforts to explain to me that he couldn’t stop the weather fell on deaf ears somewhat and I remember going through the same arguments with Little Miss C who seemed obsessed with the idea that “Mummy can stop the wind”!

As well as explaining the weather simply (yet without dumbing it down) the book also explains how the wind, temperature, sunshine and precipitation are measured. Having been originally published in 1962 the book obviously doesn’t cover all the up to date tools and techniques that they now use in the Met Office.

Whilst weather stations like the above are still used I’m pretty sure that popping out in a tie and pullover with a pipe in your mouth isn’t the way it’s currently done.

Ladybird Tuesday – The Story of Newspapers

January 20, 2020 by penny Leave a Comment

This week’s Ladybird Tuesday looks back at a book that was originally featured over on Being Mrs C – The Story of Newspapers.

Ladybird Tuesday The Story of Newspapers

The story of Newspapers is the sort of Ladybird book that I really love. It really shows its age, yet I love that glimpse into this frozen period of time. Published in 1969 this book explains how newspapers came into being and also how they were produced and run at the time of publication.

It’s fair to say that the newspaper industry has changed a crazy amount since this book was published. Broadsheet newspapers have slimmed down, internet based news has changed how newspapers work, there are daily freebie papers available across the country and then there’s all the more recent news surrounding the Leveson Inquiry and the closure of the News of the World. Whilst some things have stayed the same, it’s fair to say that you could easily fill another Ladybird book with changes that have taken place.

All the illustrations in The Story of Newspapers are done by Ron Embleton and they are beautifully detailed, having a great 60s look about them. They all seem to really easily take the reader back to that time.

The one above showing the Evening Standard being delivered to a London street corner really does just speak volumes to me of London rush hour back then.

As was the case with many Ladybird books from this era there is a clear reflection of what the role of women at the time was. This meeting if newspaper management deciding what should be going in the next morning’s edition features just one woman and it’s pretty clear that she’s there as a secretary, rather than an editor.

There’s one thing that’s a bit strange with this particular Ladybird book though – you don’t see many children’s books with a copy of Playboy on the front cover, but if you look closely below that’s exactly what there is!

Now, I’m told (not being an expert on this subject myself!) that Playboy was a different kind of publication in those days – possibly more like GQ today – but I can’t say that that stops me being surprised though.