Australian “Fairy Artist“, Peg Maltby was born Agnes “aka Peg” Newberry Orchard on January 17, 1899. She married George Bradley Maltby on September17, 1917 and the pair migrated to Australia from the UK in 1924. Whilst living in the Melbourne suburb of Coburg during The Great Depression, Peg provided extra income by painting commercial items like chocolate box lids and birthday cards.
She became a member of the Victorian Artists’ Society and had some successful exhibitions of her fairy paintings. Her greatest success was the publication of her children’s book “Peg’s Fairy Book” in 1946, which sold over 100,000 copies. Overall she produced over 40 children’s books during her career. She died in 1984. These two items are from “Peg’s Fairy Book” – ‘The Gown of Cobweb Lace’ and ‘The Brave Water Rat’.
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