Cuala Press

Elizabeth Yeats was trained as a printer at the Women’s Printing Society in London before returning to Ireland in the early 1900s. Upon her return Yeats partnered with her sister Lily and friend Evelyn Gleeson to found a women’s art collective. They named the group Dun Emer Industries in reference to Emer a woman noted in Irish folklore for her beauty and strength. Operating in the midst of the Arts and Crafts movement, Dun Emer Industries promoted women’s participation in the print and textile trades until 1908 at which time Gleeson and the Yeats sisters parted ways. At this time, Elizabeth renamed the business the Cuala Press and dedicated it mainly to print.

Yeats published a variety of poetic works including many by her brother William Butler. One of these books Poems Written in Discouragement is included in this exhibition. The press often worked in small print runs. A clipping pasted into the front of this copy of  Poems Written in Discouragement notes that only 25-30 copies of the first edition were printed. The press also churned out a series of broadsides with hand painted illustrations, many of which are found in this exhibition. The broadsides were published from 1908 until 1915. Printing continued at the press until its closure in 1946.