Dun Emer Press
Encyclopedia
The Dun Emer Press was an Irish
private press
founded in 1902 by Elizabeth Yeats
and her brother William Butler Yeats
, part of the Celtic Revival
. It was named after the legendary Emer
and evolved into the Cuala Press
.
and her sister Lily Yeats joined Evelyn Gleeson in establishing a craft studio at Dundrum
, near Dublin, called Dun Emer. This specialized in printing and other crafts, with Elizabeth Yeats in charge of the printing press. While living in London
, Elizabeth Yeats had been part of the circle of William Morris
, and had been inspired by his printing work. Gleeson offered the Yeats sisters her large house in Dundrum, in which a crafts group providing training and work for young women, in the fields of bookbinding, printing, weaving, and embroidery, could live and work. Bookbinding workshops were a later addition to the studio.
The Dun Emer studio and press were named after Emer
, daughter of Forgall Monach
, wife of the hero Cúchulainn
in the Ulster Cycle
of Irish mythology
, a figure famous for her artistic skills as well as her beauty. The title-page device of the Dun Emer Press was designed by Elinor Monsell
and shows Emer standing underneath a tree. Monsell also created the symbol of the Abbey Theatre
, Dublin, which depicts Maeve
with a wolfhound
. The focus of the Press was on publishing literary work by Irish authors, and Elizabeth and Lily Yeats's younger brother, the artist Jack Butler Yeats
, did much of the illustration work.
In 1904, the Dun Emer crafts studio was organized into two parts, the Dun Emer Guild under Gleeson and Dun Emer Industries under the Yeats sisters.
The Dun Emer Press produced limited editions
of books, printed by hand in the manner of William Morris's Kelmscott Press. The texts it published were written or selected by W. B. Yeats, who was the press's literary editor and who also subsidized its operations, which lacked profitability. In its prospectus
issued early in 1903, the press boasted of "a good eighteenth century fount
of type" and "paper made of linen
rags and without bleaching chemicals".
As well as books, the Press also printed broadsheets designed by Jack Yeats, and hand-coloured greeting card
s. In 1908, after the Press had produced eleven literary titles, the different elements of the Dun Emer studio separated completely, with Gleeson retaining the Dun Emer name. The Yeats sisters left Dundrum and took the new name Cuala for their operations, Elizabeth establishing the Cuala Press
at Churchtown, Dublin
.
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
private press
Private press
Private press is a term used in the field of book collecting to describe a printing press operated as an artistic or craft-based endeavor, rather than as a purely commercial venture...
founded in 1902 by Elizabeth Yeats
Elizabeth Yeats
Elizabeth Corbett Yeats , known as Lolly, was born at 23 Fitzroy Road, London. She was the daughter of the Irish artist John Butler Yeats and sister of W. B., Jack and Susan Mary "Lily" Yeats. She trained and worked as an art teacher and was a member of William Morris's circle in London before her...
and her brother William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and playwright, and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. A pillar of both the Irish and British literary establishments, in his later years he served as an Irish Senator for two terms...
, part of the Celtic Revival
Celtic Revival
Celtic Revival covers a variety of movements and trends, mostly in the 19th and 20th centuries, which drew on the traditions of Celtic literature and Celtic art, or in fact more often what art historians call Insular art...
. It was named after the legendary Emer
Emer
Emer , in modern Irish Éimhear, or, erroneously, Eimhear or Éimear, daughter of Forgall Monach, is the wife of the hero Cú Chulainn in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology.-Tochmarc Emire "The Wooing of Emer":...
and evolved into the Cuala Press
Cuala Press
The Cuala Press was an Irish private press set up in 1908 by Elizabeth Yeats with support from her brother William Butler Yeats that played an important role in the Celtic Revival of the early 20th century.-Origins:...
.
History
In 1902, ElizabethElizabeth Yeats
Elizabeth Corbett Yeats , known as Lolly, was born at 23 Fitzroy Road, London. She was the daughter of the Irish artist John Butler Yeats and sister of W. B., Jack and Susan Mary "Lily" Yeats. She trained and worked as an art teacher and was a member of William Morris's circle in London before her...
and her sister Lily Yeats joined Evelyn Gleeson in establishing a craft studio at Dundrum
Dundrum, Dublin
Dundrum , originally a town in its own right, is now a suburb of Dublin in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, Ireland.The area is located in the postal districts of Dublin 14 and Dublin 16.-History:...
, near Dublin, called Dun Emer. This specialized in printing and other crafts, with Elizabeth Yeats in charge of the printing press. While living in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Elizabeth Yeats had been part of the circle of William Morris
William Morris
William Morris 24 March 18343 October 1896 was an English textile designer, artist, writer, and socialist associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the English Arts and Crafts Movement...
, and had been inspired by his printing work. Gleeson offered the Yeats sisters her large house in Dundrum, in which a crafts group providing training and work for young women, in the fields of bookbinding, printing, weaving, and embroidery, could live and work. Bookbinding workshops were a later addition to the studio.
The Dun Emer studio and press were named after Emer
Emer
Emer , in modern Irish Éimhear, or, erroneously, Eimhear or Éimear, daughter of Forgall Monach, is the wife of the hero Cú Chulainn in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology.-Tochmarc Emire "The Wooing of Emer":...
, daughter of Forgall Monach
Forgall Monach
Forgall Monach or Manach is a character in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. He lives at Luglochta Loga in Lusk, County Dublin....
, wife of the hero Cúchulainn
Cú Chulainn
Cú Chulainn or Cúchulainn , and sometimes known in English as Cuhullin , is an Irish mythological hero who appears in the stories of the Ulster Cycle, as well as in Scottish and Manx folklore...
in the Ulster Cycle
Ulster Cycle
The Ulster Cycle , formerly known as the Red Branch Cycle, one of the four great cycles of Irish mythology, is a body of medieval Irish heroic legends and sagas of the traditional heroes of the Ulaid in what is now eastern Ulster and northern Leinster, particularly counties Armagh, Down and...
of Irish mythology
Irish mythology
The mythology of pre-Christian Ireland did not entirely survive the conversion to Christianity, but much of it was preserved, shorn of its religious meanings, in medieval Irish literature, which represents the most extensive and best preserved of all the branch and the Historical Cycle. There are...
, a figure famous for her artistic skills as well as her beauty. The title-page device of the Dun Emer Press was designed by Elinor Monsell
Elinor Darwin
Elinor Mary Darwin , was an Irish engraver and portrait painter.She was born in Limerick, Munster and studied at the Slade School of Art in London, earning a scholarship in 1896....
and shows Emer standing underneath a tree. Monsell also created the symbol of the Abbey Theatre
Abbey Theatre
The Abbey Theatre , also known as the National Theatre of Ireland , is a theatre located in Dublin, Ireland. The Abbey first opened its doors to the public on 27 December 1904. Despite losing its original building to a fire in 1951, it has remained active to the present day...
, Dublin, which depicts Maeve
Medb
Medb – Middle Irish: Meḋḃ, Meaḋḃ; early modern Irish: Meadhbh ; reformed modern Irish Méabh, Medbh; sometimes Anglicised Maeve, Maev or Maive – is queen of Connacht in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology...
with a wolfhound
Wolfhound
Wolfhound can refer to various breeds of dogs that have been bred to hunt wolves or to established lines of wolf-dog crosses that retain significant characteristics of wolves. Wolf-dog hybrids crossed in recent generations are often referred to as wolfdogs, wolf-dog hybrids or wolf crosses, but...
. The focus of the Press was on publishing literary work by Irish authors, and Elizabeth and Lily Yeats's younger brother, the artist Jack Butler Yeats
Jack Butler Yeats
John "Jack" Butler Yeats was an Irish artist. His early style was that of an illustrator; he only began to work regularly in oils in 1906. His early pictures are simple lyrical depictions of landscapes and figures, predominantly from the west of Ireland—especially of his boyhood home of...
, did much of the illustration work.
In 1904, the Dun Emer crafts studio was organized into two parts, the Dun Emer Guild under Gleeson and Dun Emer Industries under the Yeats sisters.
The Dun Emer Press produced limited editions
Special edition
The terms special edition, limited edition and variants such as deluxe edition, collector's edition and others, are used as a marketing incentive for various kinds of products, originally published products related to the arts, such as books, prints or recorded music and films, but now including...
of books, printed by hand in the manner of William Morris's Kelmscott Press. The texts it published were written or selected by W. B. Yeats, who was the press's literary editor and who also subsidized its operations, which lacked profitability. In its prospectus
Prospectus (book)
A book prospectus is a printed description of or advertisement for that book, usually issued before publication in an attempt to generate interest and advance orders. The word derives from Latin, meaning literally something which gives a view or prospect...
issued early in 1903, the press boasted of "a good eighteenth century fount
Font
In typography, a font is traditionally defined as a quantity of sorts composing a complete character set of a single size and style of a particular typeface...
of type" and "paper made of linen
Linen
Linen is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant, Linum usitatissimum. Linen is labor-intensive to manufacture, but when it is made into garments, it is valued for its exceptional coolness and freshness in hot weather....
rags and without bleaching chemicals".
As well as books, the Press also printed broadsheets designed by Jack Yeats, and hand-coloured greeting card
Greeting card
A greeting card is an illustrated, folded card featuring an expression of friendship or other sentiment. Although greeting cards are usually given on special occasions such as birthdays, Christmas or other holidays, they are also sent to convey thanks or express other feeling. Greeting cards,...
s. In 1908, after the Press had produced eleven literary titles, the different elements of the Dun Emer studio separated completely, with Gleeson retaining the Dun Emer name. The Yeats sisters left Dundrum and took the new name Cuala for their operations, Elizabeth establishing the Cuala Press
Cuala Press
The Cuala Press was an Irish private press set up in 1908 by Elizabeth Yeats with support from her brother William Butler Yeats that played an important role in the Celtic Revival of the early 20th century.-Origins:...
at Churchtown, Dublin
Churchtown, Dublin
Churchtown is a largely residential suburb on the southside of Dublin, Ireland, between Dundrum and Rathfarnham. It is in the postal districts Dublin 14 and Dublin 16.- Ely's Arch :...
.
List of books published by the press
- W. B. Yeats, In the Seven Woods: being poems of the Irish heroic ageIn the Seven WoodsIn the Seven Woods is a volume of poems by William Butler Yeats, published in 1903 by Elizabeth Yeats's Dun Emer Press.This is the first book of Yeats' "middle period," in which he eschewed his previous Romantic ideals and preference for pre-Raphaelite imagery, in favor of a more spare style and an...
(The Dun Emer press, 1903) - George William RussellGeorge William RussellGeorge William Russell who wrote under the pseudonym Æ , was an Irish nationalist, writer, editor, critic, poet, and painter. He was also a mystical writer, and centre of a group of followers of theosophy in Dublin, for many years.-Organisor:Russell was born in Lurgan, County Armagh...
, The Nuts of Knowledge, lyrical poems old and new (The Dun Emer press, 1903) - Douglas HydeDouglas HydeDouglas Hyde , known as An Craoibhín Aoibhinn , was an Irish scholar of the Irish language who served as the first President of Ireland from 1938 to 1945...
, The Love Songs of Connacht, being the fourth chapter of the songs of Connacht, collected and translated by Douglas Hyde (Dun Emer press, 1904) - W. B. Yeats, Stories of Red Hanrahan (The Dun Emer press, 1904)
- Lionel Pigot JohnsonLionel JohnsonLionel Pigot Johnson was an English poet, essayist and critic. He was born at Broadstairs, and educated at Winchester College and New College, Oxford, graduating in 1890. He became a Catholic convert in 1891. He lived a solitary life in London, struggling with alcoholism and his repressed...
, Twenty one poems written by Lionel Johnson, selected by William Butler Yeats (The Dun Emer Press, 1904) - William Kirkpatrick Magee, Some Essays and Passages by John Eglinton, selected by William Butler Yeats (Dun Emer Press, 1905)
- William AllinghamWilliam AllinghamWilliam Allingham was an Irish man of letters and a poet.-Biography:He was born in Ballyshannon, County Donegal, Ireland and was the son of the manager of a local bank who was of English descent...
, Sixteen poems, by William Allingham, Selected by William Butler Yeats (The Dun Emer press, 1905) - Lady GregoryAugusta, Lady GregoryIsabella Augusta, Lady Gregory , born Isabella Augusta Persse, was an Irish dramatist and folklorist. With William Butler Yeats and Edward Martyn, she co-founded the Irish Literary Theatre and the Abbey Theatre, and wrote numerous short works for both companies. Lady Gregory produced a number of...
, A Book of Saints and Wonders put down here by Lady Gregory according to the old writings and memory of the people of Ireland (The Dun Emer Press, 1906) - George William Russell, By Still Waters; lyrical poems old and new by A. E. (The Dun Emer Press, 1906)
- Katharine TynanKatharine TynanKatharine Tynan was an Irish-born writer, known mainly for her novels and poetry. After her marriage in 1898 to the writer and barrister Henry Albert Hinkson she usually wrote under the name Katharine Tynan Hinkson...
, Twenty one poems; selected by W. B. Yeats (Dun Emer press, 1907) - W. B. Yeats, Discoveries; a volume of essays by William Butler Yeats (Dun Emer press, 1907)
External links
- Dun Emer Press publications at Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
(scanned books original editions)