Fine Press Materials in Special Collections
Cuala Press
In 1902, Elizabeth and Lily Yeats, together with their friend Evelyn Gleeson, founded a craft studio called Dun Emer. The studio, which was located near Dublin, included the Dun Emer Press, which was run by Elizabeth Yeats with support from her brother, the poet William Butler Yeats. In 1908, the Yeats sisters ended their collaboration with Gleeson. Gleeson retained the Dun Emer name, and so the Yeats sisters renamed their operation Cuala Industries, with the Dun Emer Press evolving into the Cuala Press. Elizabeth Yeats had previously worked with William Morris, a central figure in the Arts and Crafts Movement, and the Dun Emer/Cuala Press was influenced by Arts and Crafts ideas. It was also central to the Celtic Revival movement, publishing works by many prominent Irish authors, and in general the Press' books are more notable for their contents than the fineness of the printing. The Press continued in operation until the late 1940s and was briefly revived by William Butler Yeats' children in the 1960s and 1970s.
Special Collections has the following items printed at or published by the Cuala Press:
- Fenollosa, Ernest. Certain Noble Plays of Japan. Churchtown: 1916. PL887 .F4
- Gogarty, Oliver. An Offering of Swans. Dublin: 1923. 828 G557of
- Pressmarks and Devices Used at the Dun Emer Press and the Cuala Press. Dalkey: 1977. Z236.I6 P7 1977
- Yeats, John. Early Memories: Some Chapters of Autobiography. Churchtown: 1923. PR5899.Y6 Z5
- Yeats, William Butler. Estrangement: Being Some Fifty Thoughts from a Diary Kept by William Butler Yeats in the Year Nineteen Hundred and Nine. Dublin: 1926. PR5906 .A54
- Yeats, William Butler. October Blast. Dublin: 1927. PR5904 .O4 1927
- Yeats, William Butler. On the Boiler. Dublin: 1939. PR5904 .O6 1939
- Yeats, William Butler. Synge and the Ireland of His Time. Churchtown: 1911. PR5533 .Y4 1911
Special Collections has the following secondary resources relating to the Cuala Press:
- First Edition Club. A Bibliographical Catalogue of the First Loan Exhibition of Books and Manuscripts Held by the First Edition Club 1922. London: The First Edition Club, 1922. Z2014.F5 F5 1922
- Miller, Liam. The Dun Emer Press, Later the Cuala Press. Dublin: Dolmen Press, 1973. Z232.C962 M5 1973
- Pressmarks and Devices Used at the Dun Emer Press and the Cuala Press. Dalkey: Cuala Press, 1977. Z236.I6 P7 1977