Australian Fairy Artists

Peg Maltby - 1899 - 1985

Peg Maltby was born Agnes Newberry Orchard on January 17,1899 Her family always called her Peg, and the name stayed with her throughout her life. She married George Bradley Maltby on Sept.17, 1917. They had four children. Peg and George migrated to Australia in 1924 and lived in Victoria all their lives. George died in 1967 and Peg in 1984. In their earlier days, living in Coburg during the Great Depression, Peg supplemented the family income by painting commercial items like chocolate box lidsand birthday cards. She became a member of the Victorian Artists' Society and had some successful exhibitions of her fairy paintings. Her biggest success came in 1946 when Murfett published her extremely successful 'Peg's Fairy Book'. This sold over 100,000 copies, which was a real achievement, given that the books sold almost exclusively in Australia, restricting the market. The original plates and art work for the fairy book vanished, and Angus and Robertson decided that they would like to print another edition, so, at the age of 75, Peg re-did all the artwork, and using the original stories a 'Peg's Fairy Book' markII came into being. In between the two fairy books, Peg produced over 40 children's books. Some of the titles were 'Nutchen', 'Meet Mr Cobbledick', 'Nursery Rhymes", and two series, the 'Pip and Pepita' books about a mouse family, and the 'Ben and Bella' books about a fairy/pixie couple. In 1947 the family moved to Olinda in the Dandenong Ranges where the cooler climate enabled her to indulge her passion for flowers in an extensive garden featuring rhododenrons and azaleas. She and George also set up a studio where the public could come and see her work. She painted many originals for sale, branching out into the flower paintings and aboriginal figures and faces. She also made some dioramas of fairy scenes, and many children spent hours looking at the detailed work.