Ladybird has been producing familiar and much-loved children’s books for many decades, and most recently it has become best known for its novelty titles such as The Mid-Life Crisis, Dating and The Ex. However, in the early 1960s, Ladybird was well-known for a different trend: it took the decision to print many of its titles using ‘ita’ – the Initial Teaching Alphabet.
Ita was a device introduced into many British schools in 1961, later spreading to the USA and Australia. It was, essentially, a variant on the alphabet created with the intention of helping English-speaking children to learn to read easily and quickly. Interestingly, ita was the invention of Sir James Pitman, grandson of Sir Isaac Pitman who invented Pitman’s shorthand – another man ostensibly concerned with speed.
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