Ladybird books that could once be picked up at car boot sales can now cost hundreds of pounds for a rare edition.

According to Robert Mullen, who set up theweeweb.co.uk, one of a number of websites for enthusiasts, the average collector is aged between 30 and 45. “They are trying to retrace their childhood,” he says. “And they want their children to enjoy the same stories that were read to them.”

He believes that though the tales have become classics, it is the wholesome illustrations that make Ladybirds so addictive.

His site focuses on books published between 1940 and 1980, before Ladybird introduced the glossy covers and photographs of today’s publications.

More than 600 books were published during that period and – although a few diehard collectors strive to collect them all – most concentrate on a particular series. The Well-Loved Tales, which includes the Sleeping Beauty and Rumpelstiltskin titles, is the most popular range.

As collecting has taken off they have become rarer and more valuable. Ebay even has a dedicated Ineffably bland: The Ladybird vision may be “safe, simple and bright” but the drawing is “brilliant, airbrush Britain”

sub-category and recently an early rare edition sold for £560.

“Ideally, books should be in their dust covers and in pristine condition,” Mullen says. “But tatty ones are often all that is available from the 1940s.”

Collectors can use The Wee Web to identify if their copy is a much-sought first edition. The site also contains a wealth of information on Ladybird’s history, its writers and illustrators.

With demand rising, the books look to become ever more collectible.

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