It is an imprint of Penguin Random House, a subsidiary of German media conglomerate Bertelsmann.
The company traces its origins to 1867, when Henry Wills opened a bookshop in Loughborough, Leicestershire. Within a decade he progressed to printing and publishing guidebooks and street directories. He was joined by William Hepworth in 1904, and the company traded as Wills & Hepworth.
The pocket-sized hardback Ladybird measured roughly four-and-a-half by seven inches (11.5 cm by 18 cm). Early books used a standard 56-page format, chosen because a complete book could be printed on one large standard sheet of paper, a quad crown, 40 inches by 30 inches, which was then folded and cut to size without waste paper. It was an economical way of producing books, enabling the books to be retailed at a low price which, for almost thirty years, remained at two shillings and sixpence (12.5p).
The first book in the line, Bunnikin’s Picnic Party: a story in verse for children with illustrations in colour, was produced in 1940. The book featured stories in verse written by W. Perring, accompanied by full-colour illustrations by A. J. (Angusine Jeanne) MacGregor. The appeal of Bunnikin, Downy Duckling and other animal characters made the book an instant success. Later series included nature books (series 536, some illustrated by, for example, Charles Tunnicliffe and Allen W. Seaby) and a host of non-fiction books, including hobbies and interests, history (L du Garde Peach wrote very many of these) and travel.
Ladybird began publishing books in other formats in 1980. Most of the remaining titles in the classic format were withdrawn in 1999 when their printing facility in Loughborough closed.
Ladybird – Story of Marco Polo
Ladybird – Arms and Armour
Ladybird – Addition Made Easy
Ladybird – Aeroplane 1
Ladybird – Aeroplane 2
Ladybird – Air Series 737
Ladybird – Air Wind And Flight
Ladybird – Air
Ladybird – Alexander The Great
Ladybird – Ambush – A Robin Hood Adventure
Ladybird – Baby Jesus
Ladybird – Bedtime 1977
Ladybird – Bedtime 1988
Ladybird – Bedtime Rhymes
Ladybird – Bob Bushtail’s Adventure
Ladybird – Botany
Ladybird – Boys and Girls
Ladybird – Bridges
Ladybird – British Wild Flowers
Ladybird – Camera
Ladybird – Captain Cook
Ladybird – Castles
Ladybird – Christopher Columbus
Ladybird – Computer 1971
Ladybird – Computer 1979
Ladybird – Crocodiles And Alligators
Ladybird – Earth
Ladybird – Ecology
Ladybird – Elves And The Shoemaker
Ladybird – EnormousTurnip
Ladybird – Everyday words For Numbers
Ladybird – Exploring Space
Ladybird – Farm Machinery
Ladybird – Fire Service
Ladybird – Garden Birds
Ladybird – Garden Flowers
Ladybird – Gardens
Ladybird – Great Civiliasations Rome
Ladybird – Great Civilisation The Vikings
Ladybird – Have A Go
Ladybird – He-Man and Masters of the Universe
Ladybird – Homes
Ladybird – Hovercraft
Ladybird – How To Make Flying Models
Ladybird – In The Train with Uncle Mac
Ladybird – James I and the Gunpowder Plot
Ladybird – Jesus By The Sea Of Galilee
Ladybird – King David
Ladybird – Kings and Queens – Book 2
Ladybird – Kings and Queens of England – Book 1
Ladybird – Learnabout Knots
Ladybird – Learning With Mother 1
Ladybird – Learning With Mother 2
Ladybird – Life Of The Honey Bee
Ladybird – Light
Ladybird – Little Quiz Book
Ladybird – Locomotive
Ladybird – Look At This v2
Ladybird – Look At This
Ladybird – Magnets And Electricity
Ladybird – Magnets Bulbs And Batteries
Ladybird – Making A Transistor Radio
Ladybird – Man In The Air
Ladybird – Man On The Sea
Ladybird – Marco Polo
Ladybird – Masters of the Universe – Castle Grayskull Under Attack!
Ladybird – Masters of the Universe – He-Man and the Lost Dragon
Ladybird – Masters of the Universe – He-Man Meets The Beast
Ladybird – Masters of the Universe – Skeletor’s Ice Attack
Ladybird – Masters of the Universe – The Iron Master
Ladybird – Masters of the Universe – Wings of Doom
Ladybird – Merchant Ships 1973
Ladybird – Metalwork
Ladybird – Miner
Ladybird – Monster stories for under fives
Ladybird – Motor Car
Ladybird – Mountains
Ladybird – Musical Instruments
Ladybird – Mysteries of Merlin
Ladybird – People at Work The Fisherman
Ladybird – People Who Help Us The Police Force
Ladybird – Pets
Ladybird – Pirates
Ladybird – Plants
Ladybird – Play With Us
Ladybird – Postal Service
Ladybird – Printing Processes
Ladybird – Rocket
Ladybird – Seashore
Ladybird – Secret of the Sword
Ladybird – Shapes
Ladybird – She-Ra – Princess of Power – She-Ra and The Surprise Party
Ladybird – Ship Builders
Ladybird – Simple Chemistry
Ladybird – Simple Mechanics
Ladybird – Sir Walker Raleigh
Ladybird – Sir Walter Raleigh
Ladybird – Sly Fox
Ladybird – Snow White and Rose Red
Ladybird – Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs
Ladybird – Stamp Collecting
Ladybird – Story of Charles II
Ladybird – Story of Henry V
Ladybird – Story Of Napolean
Ladybird – Story of Nelson
Ladybird – Story Of Nuclear Power
Ladybird – Story Of Oil
Ladybird – Story of Our Canals
Ladybird – Story Of Plastics
Ladybird – Story of Railways
Ladybird – Story Of Science Book 1
Ladybird – Story Of Science Book 2
Ladybird – Story Of The Bicycle
Ladybird – Story of the Motor Car
Ladybird – Tales From The Jungle Book
Ladybird – Telephone
Ladybird – Tootles the Taxi and Other Rhymes
Ladybird – Town Mouse And Country Mouse
Ladybird – Ugly Duckling
Ladybird – Under The Ground
Ladybird – Understanding The Sea
Ladybird – Underwater Exploration
Ladybird – Water
Ladybird – What To Look At In Spring
Ladybird – What To Look For In Winter
Ladybird – Wildlife In Britain
Ladybird – William the Conqueror
Ladybird – Woodwork
Ladybird – Your Body
