We don't publish many thrillers, but we do have several classics of the genre. One could go further and describe them as 'domestic noir', a recently coined term for novels whose origins can be traced back to Patrick Hamilton’s 1938 play Gas Light, and the 1944 film adaptation Gaslight in which an older husband (Charles Boyer) sets out to drive his wife (Ingrid Bergman) to madness in a claustrophobic domestic setting. This is also where the term 'to gaslight' comes from (it was Merriam-Webster's word of the year in 2022.)

Over the years, Ladybird Books covered a phenomenal range of subjects and series. This 1972 title was in the 'Learnabout' series; it was written by Maureen and Michael Harvey, and the marvellously detailed illustrations were by Eric Winter. After Bath, the Ladybird exhibition travels on to St Albans for the summer, then to Peterborough in Spring 2025.

From 1964, Ladybird Books published the Peter and Jane reading scheme, and it is estimated that more than eighty million people learned to read with it. The books were quickly updated in the 1970s to take into account changes in attitudes and family dynamics. This is from The Sweet Shop, illustrated by Martin Aitchison, which later became a greengrocer's with Peter and Jane buying apples. 

John Berry's work is also instantly recognisable, especially from the Ladybird 'People at Work' series. He illustrated many titles including The Nurse, The Farmer, The Miner, The Pottery Makers and, here, The Policeman (1963), written by Vera Southgate, renowned literacy specialist, with J. Havenhand.

There is a fascinating exhibition of the Ladybird book artists at the Victoria Art Gallery in Bath until 14 April. It traces the interconnected work of these artists, and recounts the  company’s story during the period 1940 to 1975, Ladybird’s ‘golden years’. One of the most prolific of the Ladybird artists was Harry Wingfield (1910-2002), whose illustrations are well-known to past generations of young readers. This is from Shopping with Mother (1958), a Ladybird Learning to Read Book by by ME (Margaret Elise) Gagg.

Every spring, ramblers, walkers, and hikers who enjoy the open countryside have reason to be grateful to those who took part into the mass trespass on Kinder Scout on 24 April, 1932, which fuelled the right-to-roam movement. (It's still a very popular walk, sometimes too popular.) Nevertheless, access to thousands of square miles of land is increasingly blocked; The Book of Trespass (2020) by Nick Hayes is an important account of this dispossession of public rights.

This London Transport poster (1956) by Hans Unger quotes from RL Stevenson's poem in Underwoods (1887) and promotes LT's  'Country Walks' book. For decades, the capital's tube stations had lovely seasonal posters designed by artists such as Laura Knight and Dora Batty which encouraged Londoners to discover 'London's country' by public transport. Many have since become collectors' items, while cheerful spring posters are now, sadly, nowhere to be seen on the Underground.