braby was born and grew up in london. she attended the st felix school in southwold before studying, between 1926 and 1930, at the central school of arts and crafts. braby also studied art in paris and florence and for a time was enrolled at the heatherley school of fine art. during her design career she produced work for "the radio times", "the studio" and for ici. between 1937 and 1955 braby illustrated a number of books, including several volumes produced by the golden cockerel press. she spent eighteen months working on their 1948 edition of the "mabinogion". for "the saga of llywarch the old", braby created colour engravings that resembled mediaeval ivory tablets. among the other books she illustrated were a 1950 edition of john keats' "poems" and a 1954 edition of oscar wilde's "lord arthur savile's crime". her own volume, "the way of wood engraving" was published in 1953.