Make money selling vintage Ladybird books

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If you’re a parent and one of your offspring currently has their nose in a classic Ladybird book, wrestle it out of their hands at once, put it in plastic and stick it in the attic. It could be worth some sensible money.

Because on the quiet, and almost under the noses of traditional booksellers, the desirability of Ladybird books has risen over the past few years to the point that some rare and collectible copies can now change hands for around £300. Not bad for a series which for thirty years sold for 2s 6d each.

Of course, with print-runs of thousands of copies, many books are still only worth pennies, but there are some surprises around.

• Ladybird books can be worth up to £350.
• Check out some fan sites and auction websites for hints and places to buy.

How to get started

The first place to look of course is your own childhood library. Ladybirds are valuable to many who benefit from their increasing love of nostalgia and the comfort of childhood memories, a factor that could help them continue in popularity.

Most collectors either try to collect one of everything the company produced (quite a feat as there were several hundred produced between the most popular period – 1940-1980) or they specialise in a single series such as Fairy Tales and Rhymes, Animals or Adventures from History, to name but a few.

Some hunt high and low for first editions but it can be problematic as many Ladybird books often did not have any method for stating whether a book was a first edition or not.

Some collectors enjoy the books for the nostalgic childhood memories, while others like the uniformity in how great they look on shelves with the little bugs. Some are also drawn to particular illustrators and their imaginative artwork.

What to look for

Prices for Ladybird books seem to depend on two main factors – which series they are from (some are much more popular than others) and how rare they are. There is a page on The Wee Web that shows which series’ are more popular than others and which are particularly rare.

Some specific books and some whole series are now very rare and are sought by collectors all over the country. The early, six-book ‘Adventures of Wonk’ series, for example, is very hard to come by. The books, with stories about a Koala bear illustrated by Kiddell-Monroe, will sell for about £100 per copy with dust jacket and between £15-60 without.

The un-PC-sounding single book series ‘The Tinker’s Wig’ is also very hard to find. Published in 1947 it is something of an oddity as it is not only twice the size of a standard Ladybird book but it also broke Ladybird’s printing style by printing text on both sides of the pages and using fewer pictures. A copy with dust jacket would sell for £100-150, without you could get £40-60 for it.

Officially, the rarest Ladybird book – so rare, it seems, that not one collector has even seen one – is a special printing of ‘The Computer’ from the ‘How it Works’ series (series 654) which was produced privately for the Ministry of Defence in 1972.

Cinderella, a really well-loved title, was changing hands five years ago for £5 a copy. Now they’re £55 each and if you have one of the really rare copies that had a dust jacket it’s more like £250.

Generally speaking the older your book is, the more it is worth. It can be difficult identifying this on some Ladybird books as they have a tally system and each tally number corresponds to a different year. This tally chart also tells you how many books have been published by ladybird. If your book has a tally number, check below to see when it was printed.

100-1963          160-1966          220-1968         260-1969         320-1973         370-1974

120-1965          170-1966          225-1968         270-1970         330-1973

135-1965          190-1967          230-1969         280-1970         340-1973

140-1965          200-1967         240-1969         290-1971          350-1974

150-1966          210-1968          250-1969         300-1972         360-1974

Where to look

You find them in car boot sales, jumble sales, charity shops and on websites. Abebooks.co.uk and eBay are great.

Specialist bookshops often don’t know much about Ladybirds and it’s possible to get good ones at knock-down prices.

Opportunities are getting rarer, though. Ten years ago, you could get a whole box of Ladybird books for £1 at car boot sales or pick them up for 5p in charity shops.

But with the internet, and particularly eBay, prices have shot up over the last five years. People are starting to see what they can get for their old books and it’s getting harder to find the great bargains. Prices have gone up by hundreds of per cent.

The best bargains can still be found in car boot sales as many individuals don’t realise how much the books are worth. Charity shops like Oxfam, which have book experts on hand, do not sell them at the knock-down rate they used to.

There is not yet a society for Ladybird lovers but a few fans are discussing the possibility of setting one up. Once that happens, copies could be bought and sold even more energetically and prices, for the next decade or so at least, look like they will continue to rise.

Prices

From about 50p to £350 each.

Getting started

Visit these websites to buy books and find out more information on collecting:

• Abebooks.co.uk – a great way to find books
• The Wee Web – fan and bookselling site
• Ebay – find your books at auction
• www.ladybirdflyawayhome.com – fan site
• www.ladybirdbookcollector.co.uk – fan site
• www.dottybug.co.uk – fan site
• Why not share your collecting tips on our money making forum?

Caring for your books

Once you have acquired some valuable books, you really need to know how to store them properly so that the don’t get damaged, after all, if you’ve just paid £200 for a book you don’t want to store it somewhere it can start to mould.

First of all don’t store them anywhere where the temperature rapidly increases or decreases as hot, dry temperatures can dry out and crack leather bindings. But low temperatures can encourage mould to grow, so try and avoid storing books in damp places. Wrapping books in plastic bags to prevent damp is also a bad idea as it can retain heat and moisture which also leads to mould growth and mildew.

Its best to keep books away from water pipes incase they burst as well as heaters and radiators so they do not dry out. Try and keep the room temperature within the range of 16°C to 19°C (60-66°F); if you can measure relative humidity, it should be kept as within the range of 45% to 60%.

Light levels are also a hugely important element in keeping your books in pristine condition. You should never leave your books in direct sunlight as it will bleach the colours out in the spines or covers, leaving your books looking washed out and faded.

Storage

You can keep your books in boxes, but it is better to keep them standing upright on a shelf out of the way of harmful sunlight. Don’t pack books into tightly as you can risk damaging the covers when you come to take them off the shelf. Also try and keep books of the same size next to each other, otherwise you run the risk of the covers warping.

Book restoration

If a boo

If you’re a parent and one of your offspring currently has their nose in a classic Ladybird book, wrestle it out of their hands at once, put it in plastic and stick it in the attic. It could be worth some sensible money.

Because on the quiet, and almost under the noses of traditional booksellers, the desirability of Ladybird books has risen over the past few years to the point that some rare and collectible copies can now change hands for around £300. Not bad for a series which for thirty years sold for 2s 6d each.

Of course, with print-runs of thousands of copies, many books are still only worth pennies, but there are some surprises around.

• Ladybird books can be worth up to £350.
• Check out some fan sites and auction websites for hints and places to buy.

How to get started

The first place to look of course is your own childhood library. Ladybirds are valuable to many who benefit from their increasing love of nostalgia and the comfort of childhood memories, a factor that could help them continue in popularity.

Most collectors either try to collect one of everything the company produced (quite a feat as there were several hundred produced between the most popular period – 1940-1980) or they specialise in a single series such as Fairy Tales and Rhymes, Animals or Adventures from History, to name but a few.

Some hunt high and low for first editions but it can be problematic as many Ladybird books often did not have any method for stating whether a book was a first edition or not.

Some collectors enjoy the books for the nostalgic childhood memories, while others like the uniformity in how great they look on shelves with the little bugs. Some are also drawn to particular illustrators and their imaginative artwork.

What to look for

Prices for Ladybird books seem to depend on two main factors – which series they are from (some are much more popular than others) and how rare they are. There is a page on The Wee Web that shows which series’ are more popular than others and which are particularly rare.

Some specific books and some whole series are now very rare and are sought by collectors all over the country. The early, six-book ‘Adventures of Wonk’ series, for example, is very hard to come by. The books, with stories about a Koala bear illustrated by Kiddell-Monroe, will sell for about £100 per copy with dust jacket and between £15-60 without.

The un-PC-sounding single book series ‘The Tinker’s Wig’ is also very hard to find. Published in 1947 it is something of an oddity as it is not only twice the size of a standard Ladybird book but it also broke Ladybird’s printing style by printing text on both sides of the pages and using fewer pictures. A copy with dust jacket would sell for £100-150, without you could get £40-60 for it.

Officially, the rarest Ladybird book – so rare, it seems, that not one collector has even seen one – is a special printing of ‘The Computer’ from the ‘How it Works’ series (series 654) which was produced privately for the Ministry of Defence in 1972.

Cinderella, a really well-loved title, was changing hands five years ago for £5 a copy. Now they’re £55 each and if you have one of the really rare copies that had a dust jacket it’s more like £250.

Generally speaking the older your book is, the more it is worth. It can be difficult identifying this on some Ladybird books as they have a tally system and each tally number corresponds to a different year. This tally chart also tells you how many books have been published by ladybird. If your book has a tally number, check below to see when it was printed.

100 – 1963          160-1966          220-1968         260-1969         320-1973         370-1974

120-1965          170-1966          225-1968         270-1970         330-1973

135-1965          190-1967          230-1969         280-1970         340-1973

140-1965          200-1967         240-1969         290-1971         350-1974

150-1966          210-1968          250-1969         300-1972         360-1974

Where to look

You find them in car boot sales, jumble sales, charity shops and on websites. Abebooks.co.uk and eBay are great.

Specialist bookshops often don’t know much about Ladybirds and it’s possible to get good ones at knock-down prices.

Opportunities are getting rarer, though. Ten years ago, you could get a whole box of Ladybird books for £1 at car boot sales or pick them up for 5p in charity shops.

But with the internet, and particularly eBay, prices have shot up over the last five years. People are starting to see what they can get for their old books and it’s getting harder to find the great bargains. Prices have gone up by hundreds of per cent.

The best bargains can still be found in car boot sales as many individuals don’t realise how much the books are worth. Charity shops like Oxfam, which have book experts on hand, do not sell them at the knock-down rate they used to.

There is not yet a society for Ladybird lovers but a few fans are discussing the possibility of setting one up. Once that happens, copies could be bought and sold even more energetically and prices, for the next decade or so at least, look like they will continue to rise.

Prices

From about 50p to £350 each.

Getting started

Visit these websites to buy books and find out more information on collecting:

• Abebooks.co.uk – a great way to find books
• The Wee Web – fan and bookselling site
• Ebay – find your books at auction
• www.ladybirdflyawayhome.com – fan site
• www.ladybirdbookcollector.co.uk – fan site
• www.dottybug.co.uk – fan site
• Why not share your collecting tips on our money making forum?

Caring for your books

Once you have acquired some valuable books, you really need to know how to store them properly so that the don’t get damaged, after all, if you’ve just paid £200 for a book you don’t want to store it somewhere it can start to mould.

First of all don’t store them anywhere where the temperature rapidly increases or decreases as hot, dry temperatures can dry out and crack leather bindings. But low temperatures can encourage mould to grow, so try and avoid storing books in damp places. Wrapping books in plastic bags to prevent damp is also a bad idea as it can retain heat and moisture which also leads to mould growth and mildew.

Its best to keep books away from water pipes incase they burst as well as heaters and radiators so they do not dry out. Try and keep the room temperature within the range of 16°C to 19°C (60-66°F); if you can measure relative humidity, it should be kept as within the range of 45% to 60%.

Light levels are also a hugely important element in keeping your books in pristine condition. You should never leave your books in direct sunlight as it will bleach the colours out in the spines or covers, leaving your books looking washed out and faded.

Storage

You can keep your books in boxes, but it is better to keep them standing upright on a shelf out of the way of harmful sunlight. Don’t pack books into tightly as you can risk damaging the covers when you come to take them off the shelf. Also try and keep books of the same size next to each other, otherwise you run the risk of the covers warping.

Book restoration

If a book is damaged by general wear and tear or if some of the pages have come lose then don’t despair, there is a chance it could be restored to its original glory if you take it to a professional book binder or restorer. Don’t attempt to mend it yourself, always seek professional help if the book is valuable. Website inprint.com has a helpful list of contacts you could try, but there is probably someone in your local antiques or book shop who knows a good person to go to.

Events

The Provincial booksellers fairs association organises book fairs all over the UK. See their website for the location of their next fair.

If you’re a parent and one of your offspring currently has their nose in a classic Ladybird book, wrestle it out of their hands at once, put it in plastic and stick it in the attic. It could be worth some sensible money.

Because on the quiet, and almost under the noses of traditional booksellers, the desirability of Ladybird books has risen over the past few years to the point that some rare and collectible copies can now change hands for around £300. Not bad for a series which for thirty years sold for 2s 6d each.

Of course, with print-runs of thousands of copies, many books are still only worth pennies, but there are some surprises around.

• Ladybird books can be worth up to £350.
• Check out some fan sites and auction websites for hints and places to buy.

How to get started

The first place to look of course is your own childhood library. Ladybirds are valuable to many who benefit from their increasing love of nostalgia and the comfort of childhood memories, a factor that could help them continue in popularity.

Most collectors either try to collect one of everything the company produced (quite a feat as there were several hundred produced between the most popular period – 1940-1980) or they specialise in a single series such as Fairy Tales and Rhymes, Animals or Adventures from History, to name but a few.

Some hunt high and low for first editions but it can be problematic as many Ladybird books often did not have any method for stating whether a book was a first edition or not.

Some collectors enjoy the books for the nostalgic childhood memories, while others like the uniformity in how great they look on shelves with the little bugs. Some are also drawn to particular illustrators and their imaginative artwork.

What to look for

Prices for Ladybird books seem to depend on two main factors – which series they are from (some are much more popular than others) and how rare they are. There is a page on The Wee Web that shows which series’ are more popular than others and which are particularly rare.

Some specific books and some whole series are now very rare and are sought by collectors all over the country. The early, six-book ‘Adventures of Wonk’ series, for example, is very hard to come by. The books, with stories about a Koala bear illustrated by Kiddell-Monroe, will sell for about £100 per copy with dust jacket and between £15-60 without.

The un-PC-sounding single book series ‘The Tinker’s Wig’ is also very hard to find. Published in 1947 it is something of an oddity as it is not only twice the size of a standard Ladybird book but it also broke Ladybird’s printing style by printing text on both sides of the pages and using fewer pictures. A copy with dust jacket would sell for £100-150, without you could get £40-60 for it.

Officially, the rarest Ladybird book – so rare, it seems, that not one collector has even seen one – is a special printing of ‘The Computer’ from the ‘How it Works’ series (series 654) which was produced privately for the Ministry of Defence in 1972.

Cinderella, a really well-loved title, was changing hands five years ago for £5 a copy. Now they’re £55 each and if you have one of the really rare copies that had a dust jacket it’s more like £250.

Generally speaking the older your book is, the more it is worth. It can be difficult identifying this on some Ladybird books as they have a tally system and each tally number corresponds to a different year. This tally chart also tells you how many books have been published by ladybird. If your book has a tally number, check below to see when it was printed.

100-1963          160-1966          220-1968         260-1969         320-1973         370-1974

120-1965          170-1966          225-1968         270-1970         330-1973

135-1965          190-1967          230-1969         280-1970         340-1973

140-1965          200-1967         240-1969         290-1971          350-1974

150-1966          210-1968          250-1969         300-1972         360-1974

Where to look

You find them in car boot sales, jumble sales, charity shops and on websites. Abebooks.co.uk and eBay are great.

Specialist bookshops often don’t know much about Ladybirds and it’s possible to get good ones at knock-down prices.

Opportunities are getting rarer, though. Ten years ago, you could get a whole box of Ladybird books for £1 at car boot sales or pick them up for 5p in charity shops.

But with the internet, and particularly eBay, prices have shot up over the last five years. People are starting to see what they can get for their old books and it’s getting harder to find the great bargains. Prices have gone up by hundreds of per cent.

The best bargains can still be found in car boot sales as many individuals don’t realise how much the books are worth. Charity shops like Oxfam, which have book experts on hand, do not sell them at the knock-down rate they used to.

There is not yet a society for Ladybird lovers but a few fans are discussing the possibility of setting one up. Once that happens, copies could be bought and sold even more energetically and prices, for the next decade or so at least, look like they will continue to rise.

Prices

From about 50p to £350 each.

Getting started

Visit these websites to buy books and find out more information on collecting:

• Abebooks.co.uk – a great way to find books
• The Wee Web – fan and bookselling site
• Ebay – find your books at auction
• www.ladybirdflyawayhome.com – fan site
• www.ladybirdbookcollector.co.uk – fan site
• www.dottybug.co.uk – fan site
• Why not share your collecting tips on our money making forum?

Caring for your books

Once you have acquired some valuable books, you really need to know how to store them properly so that the don’t get damaged, after all, if you’ve just paid £200 for a book you don’t want to store it somewhere it can start to mould.

First of all don’t store them anywhere where the temperature rapidly increases or decreases as hot, dry temperatures can dry out and crack leather bindings. But low temperatures can encourage mould to grow, so try and avoid storing books in damp places. Wrapping books in plastic bags to prevent damp is also a bad idea as it can retain heat and moisture which also leads to mould growth and mildew.

Its best to keep books away from water pipes incase they burst as well as heaters and radiators so they do not dry out. Try and keep the room temperature within the range of 16°C to 19°C (60-66°F); if you can measure relative humidity, it should be kept as within the range of 45% to 60%.

Light levels are also a hugely important element in keeping your books in pristine condition. You should never leave your books in direct sunlight as it will bleach the colours out in the spines or covers, leaving your books looking washed out and faded.

Storage

You can keep your books in boxes, but it is better to keep them standing upright on a shelf out of the way of harmful sunlight. Don’t pack books into tightly as you can risk damaging the covers when you come to take them off the shelf. Also try and keep books of the same size next to each other, otherwise you run the risk of the covers warping.

Book restoration

If a book is damaged by general wear and tear or if some of the pages have come lose then don’t despair, there is a chance it could be restored to its original glory if you take it to a professional book binder or restorer. Don’t attempt to mend it yourself, always seek professional help if the book is valuable. Website inprint.com has a helpful list of contacts you could try, but there is probably someone in your local antiques or book shop who knows a good person to go to.

Events

The Provincial booksellers fairs association organises book fairs all over the UK. See their website for the location of their next fair.

k is damaged by general wear and tear or if some of the pages have come lose then don’t despair, there is a chance it could be restored to its original glory if you take it to a professional book binder or restorer. Don’t attempt to mend it yourself, always seek professional help if the book is valuable. Website inprint.com has a helpful list of contacts you could try, but there is probably someone in your local antiques or book shop who knows a good person to go to.

Events

The Provincial booksellers fairs association organises book fairs all over the UK. See their website for the location of their next fair.