The Ladybird connection

You may be familiar with Ladybird books from your childhood, when the small, compact volumes kept children entertained and helped both parents and schools educate children. These inexpensive volumes, with their well-constructed text, and beautiful illustrations were very popular, and covered not only topics like nature, jobs, and history, but also fairy stories, and bedtime stories, amongst other things. 

You may, of course, have become familiar with Ladybird books more recently, as there are now quite a number of titles in a series designed specifically for adults - humorous little volumes, with titles like 'How it Works: the cat'!

These new titles are published by Penguin Books, who are owned by Pearson Publishing, Pearson having bought the Ladybird Books publishing company in 1972. Initially. Ladybird Books had been published by Wills and Hepworth, the first book being published in 1914, and the ladybird logo being registered in 1915. The publisher had previously been known for publishing almanacs and street directories, and even the local newspaper. The Ladybird imprint really took off during and after the Second World War, and the logo was refined a number of times.

But what has this to do with Loughborough? 

Wills and Hepworth's printing business was based in Loughborough, off the Market Place, in Angel Yard. Initially, the business was a bookshop, opened in 1867, but soon diversified into printing. The publishing name of Wills and Hepworth became Ladybird Books when the company moved from Angel Yard to a purpose-built factory on Beeches Road in Loughborough, in 1971.

Although the Ladybird factory is now dedicated to wallpaper production, and houses the archive of the William Morris wallpaper designs, the building is known as Ladybird House. Ladybird Books is also remembered in the naming of a nearby street, Ladybird Close. 

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Streets: Ladybird Close. 

Category: F Trading and occupational name

Map co-ordinates: H6

Posted by lynneaboutloughborough,  7 July 2022

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Dyer, Lynne (2022). The Ladybird connection. Available from: https://lynneaboutthestreetsofloughborough.blogspot.com/2022/07/the-ladbird-connection.html [Accessed 7 July 2022]

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