From 1940 - 1975
The company started as a publishing house and in its first year published books for adults. The first children's books came in 1941, beginning with a picture book, illustrated by frank Wathne. After a few years the turnover was 300,000 kroner, making Lærdal the country's largest publisher of picture books.
Altogether 163 different picture books and 77 different drawing and painting books were published (Kleven 1989). As well as these there were other printed items for children which are difficult to pigeon-hole. Several of the books are also difficult to categorise: a picture book made of thick cardboard which can also be folded to form a house, or another «book» shaped like a bag full of activities. It is not clear what can be categorised as picture books, activity books or toys, which we would call «play books». And where do memory books belong?
Printed materials for children rarely show a date of publication. They should be current for many years. This makes it difficult to check how many new titles were produced each year. Einar Økland, author of the book Norwegian Painting Books, writes: «it is sometimes possible to have a rough idea of the year of publication by checking whether the National Library of Norway received a copy of the book in accordance with legal deposit regulations. However, for many of Lærdal's children's book, it seems as though they were never deposited, since we can see many unregistered titles» (2012). Another source of error noted by Økland is that books can be deposited in a year other than in their year of publication.
Amongst other printed items we may list Advent calendars, jigsaw puzzles, cardboard bricks and various games. A lot of work was also expended on the packaging for the different products.
Written by Hege Stormark, Norwegian Children's Museum and Stavanger School Museum.
Sources:
Kleven, Henning, unpublished manuscript about the history of Lærdal, 1989
Tjomsland, Nina, Hjertet i arbeidet. Lærdals første 50 år, 1990
Økland, Einar, Norske malebøker, 2012