606e
- The Public Services
(Easy Reading)
This was the fifth series of the 'Easy Reading' books which
were first launched in 1960. All three titles were written by the team
of I. & J. Havenhand, and very well illustrated by John Berry, who was
kept very busy by Ladybird throughout this period. Berry often worked
from photographs, copying them closely where appropriate, but his 'photo-realistic'
pictures were well suited to the technical subjects covered. It has been
wondered why there is often quite a gap between titles, these three titles
span a four year gap for example. However it was not uncommon for a title
to take up to two years from inception to publication according to former
Ladybird director Douglas Keen.
The
three books are typical of Ladybird's educational approach at its best. They all
start with some historical background on life before the particular public service
in question, details of where the resource comes from, and then the way the industry
works today. Electricity and Gas have illustrations of typical household appliances,
and cover the supply right down to showing how the household meter works (plus
diagrams on the end papers of the various area boards). Water likewise covers
everything from how water is collected in dams up to diagrams of a typical household
water system. There was also an interesting 'limited edition' of this last title,
which was printed for schools to go with the Yorkshire Water Authority educational
programme, and differs from the normal edition in having the YWA name on the front
and a different title typestyle. Whether this edition was available in shops or
only supplied to schools isn't known. All three titles post-date the dust-jacket,
and came with printed hard covers. With the selling off and privatisation of these
resources, the books are sadly now as much a part of history as the notion of
public ownership (can you imagine the shareholders voting away dividends to pay
for school books?).
Electricity
1966
Gas 1967
Water Supply 1969
Water Supply YWA edition 1969