Well-Loved Tales: Cinderella

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On the top row, the original format. 27 titles were published like this between 1964 and 1974. They are all written by Vera Southgate and wonderfully illustrated by Eric Winter and Robert Lumley (and one – Princess and the Frog – by Capaldi). The format always had the text on the left and the pictures on the right. Two other books: Railways and Flight were re-issued with different covers, and slightly revised contents to encompass recent development. The later titles in this series (The parables) were only ever printed with this format cover. Well Loved Tales

The images in the earlier versions of these books must be, as you might expect, some of the most halcyon. Lambs skip, birds sing, shepherds care, mothers beam and children lisp. I can understand that later editions needed to tone it all down a bit. But it’s hard to get nostalgic about the revised versions. The first revision of ‘Hymns’ added ‘Songs’ to the title and changed a couple of the songs – but little is changed from the original. Both early versions provide a prime example of Ladybird self-publicity, with the children on the front cover singing from the Laydibrd book of Hymns (with themselves on the cover). Bedtime Rhymes Topic: Adventure Animals Childhood Family and friends Food Health History Kindness Magic Natural world Oceans Science and technology Sport and hobbies Travel A number of very different Ladybird books share the same title – just to confuse people: Tootles the TaxiGrammar Skill: Adjectives Adverbs Conjunctions Past continuous Past tense Phonics Prepositions Present simple Present tense Pronouns Questions Questions and answers Simple past As you can see here, the whole ‘How it Works’ series 654 underwent a complete cover makeover when they were updated at the end of the 70s. Some books (such as ‘The Motor Car’) had already been revised by then.

Most of the books in this series were issued in only one version. However, Exploring Space was revised for obvious reasons.

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If you are interested in old Ladybird Fairy Tales, take care to sort out your 413s from your 606ds! And for more on 606ds, see below. Nursery Rhymes I couldn’t put it off any longer. Cinderella. If you’re male, skip this posting. You won’t get it. It’s a girl thing. The same could be said for the following pairings – the original version (both from series 563) representing Ladybird at it’s dewy, nostalgic, zenith and the other a poorer, sketchy affair Going to school Ladybird Tales are based on the original Ladybird retellings by Vera Southgate, with beautiful pictures of the kind children like best - full of richness and detail. Children have always loved, and will always remember, these classic fairy tales and sharing them together is an experience to treasure. Ladybird has published fairy tales for over forty-five years, bringing the magic of traditional stories to each new generation of children. Read more Details

Based on the classic fairy tale. Cinderella's dream of going to the prince's ball comes true when her fairy godmother appears. But she'd better be home by midnight... Another series that gained a ‘framed’ cover in the 1970s was the Bible stories series 606a. Earlier titles were issued with this style cover: Cinderella is a Level 1 Read it yourself title, suitable for very early readers who have had some initial reading instruction and are ready to take their first steps in reading real stories. Each story is told very simply, using a small number of frequently repeated words. Read more Details

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Here’s another title originally from the wonderful 563 series which found it’s way, years later, into a different version: There is similar confusion over the immensely popular 606d – Well Loved Tales series. Many people are anxious to get hold again of the fairy tales they remember as a child. But there are 2 different versions of the same titles in the same series to look out for.Here you can see some examples of the 3 different formats in which the 606d books were issued. Many Ladybird books proved popular but became rapidly out of date, so the same titles were revised sometimes many times. There were often those connected with vehicles and technology. Ladybird's First Favourite Tales series is hugely popular and is a great introduction to the most important fairy tales. 2011 brought a new look and great covers to the series, but the books are still just as fun to read as ever.