Royal Doulton Bunnykins Storytime…

Know someone who needs bookends? Here's one that's truly literary in approach - designed as two books - with a young Bunnykins and his keen mouse friend acting as the proverbial bookends reading together. The publications are Bunnykins themed, of course, and feature imagery of Little Twitching.

It's a solidly designed Royal Doulton bookend for the right side, made to match Summer Dreams, and something of a Bunnykins collectable. And it's based on Barbara Vernon's classic 1937 drawing of Dunce for tableware.

Designed by Caroline Dadd, this captivating series of Royal Doulton giftware is hand made and hand decorated earthenware, featuring two resin snow globes which are among the first in the Bunnykins range. You will find that they are excellent gift ideas for a new baby or essential accessories for the nursery.

These traditionally minded gifts are based on classic designs featured on early successful ranges of tableware and nurseryware. They were divided into hollow ware (designated HW) such as mugs, and large and small flat subjects (designated SF and LF respectively), featuring plates.

The originals range from Barbara Vernon's 1937 mug (HW1R) Reading Without Tears as the Story Time bookend, to Walter Hayward's 1967 small plate (SF132) Space Rocket launch for Shooting for the Stars. Consequently, the pedigree of these gifts can be traced back to a range of Royal Doulton tableware that fast grew in popularity from the 1930s.

In fact, the first Bunnykins pieces were created from the drawings of Barbara Vernon and launched in 1934, with most of her designs withdrawn by 1952. Her successor, Walter Hayward, adapted her drawings at first, but soon developed his own, busier style of composition, characterised by the presence of little mice. The originals are, of course, highly collectable today.