Maude and Miska Petersham

Maud Fuller Petersham (August 5, 1890 – November 29, 1971) and Miska Petersham (September 20, 1888 – May 15, 1960) were American writers and illustrators who helped set the direction for illustrated children's books as known today. The Petershams worked closely with such pioneering children's book editors as Louise Seaman Bechtel and May Massee, and with such innovative printers as Charles Stringer and William Glaser. They worked as a seamless partnership for more than five decades. Both prolific and versatile, they produced illustrations for more than 120 trade and textbooks, anthologies, and picture books. Of the 50 books they both wrote and illustrated, many were recognized with important awards or critical acclaim. They are known for technical excellence, exuberant color, and the introduction of international folk and modernist themes.

Maud Fuller was born August 5, 1890 in Kingston, New York to a family with deep Yankee roots. Her mother was from the Sisson family, generations of Rhode Island Quakers. Her father descended from the physician on the Mayflower. He was a Baptist minister who moved his family several times. The third of four daughters, Maud was graduated from Vassar College in 1912, and later studied at the New York School of Fine and Applied Art. While working at the International Art Service (IAS), a graphic design firm in New York City, she met her future husband, Miska Petersham.

Miska was born Petrezselyem Mihaly in Torokszentmiklos, Hungary, on September 20, 1888, the son of a carpenter and blacksmith. Miska studied at the Royal National School for Applied Arts in Budapest. He completed his studies in 1911 and moved first to London and within six months traveled steerage and came to New York through Ellis Island in 1912. He quickly found work at the International Art Service, a graphic arts studio with modernist European style founded by Arthur Wiener.

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