Mary Elizabeth ("Molly") Brett was born in Croydon, Surrey, on 5 March 1902, and grew up surrounded by animals and nature. Her mother, Mary Gould Brett, was a well-known animal painter who encouraged her daughter to paint from life. Molly took a correspondence course in illustration, and then attended Press Art School and Guildford School of Art, and at the latter she met fellow illustrator Margaret Tarrant, with whom she would live with in Cornwall.
Her early work was in weekly papers for children, including Puck and Tiny Tots, but she is best known as a book illustrator - she illustrated stories by Enid Blyton, and wrote and illustrated 21 children's books of her own. Her work in comics includes the strip book series Master Bunny, written by Alison Winn (1951-54), and Clicky, written by Blyton. She died in Surrey in April 1990.
References[]
- Molly Brett at the Medici Society, accessed February 11, 2011
- The Fairy Cottage: Fairy Illustrators, accessed February 11, 2011.
- Alan Clark, Dictionary of British Comic Artists, Writers and Editors, The British Library, 1998, pp. 25-26
