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adderbolt - Jack posted an update Monday, Oct 31, 2011, 5:45am EDT, 14 years ago
The 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. Cuala was to play an important role in the Celtic Revival of the early 20th century. In 1902, Elizabeth Yeats and her sister Lily joined their friend Evelyn Gleeson in the establishment of a craft studio near Dublin named Dun Emer. Dun Emer became a focus of the Irish Arts and Crafts Movement, specializing in printing, embroidery, rug and tapestry-making. Elizabeth Yeats ran the printing operation, and Lily managed the needlework department. In 1904, the operation was reorganized into two parts, the Dun Emer Guild run by Gleeson and Dun Emer Industries under the direction of the Yeats sisters. In 1908 the groups separated completely. Gleeson retained the Dun Emer name, and the Yeats sisters established Cuala Industries at nearby Churchtown, which ran the Cuala Press and their embroidery workshop.
It was intended that the new press would produce work by writers associated with the Irish Literary Revival. They ended up publishing a total of over 70 titles before they closed in 1946. Cuala was unusual in that it was the only Arts and Crafts press to be run and staffed by women and the only one that published new works rather than established classics. In addition to William Butler Yeats, Cuala published works by Ezra Pound, Jack B. Yeats, Robin Flower, Elizabeth Bowen, Oliver St John Gogarty, Lady Gregory, Douglas Hyde, Lionel Johnson, Patrick Kavannagh, Louis MacNeice, John Masefield, Frank O’Connor, John Millington Synge, John Butler Yeats, Rabindranath Tagore and others.
After Elizabeth Yeats died in 1940, the work of the press was carried on by two of her assistants. The final Cuala title was Stranger in Aran by Elizabeth Rivers which was published in 1946. In 1969 the press was taken up by W. B. Yeats' children, Michael and Anne Yeats, with Liam Miller. Some titles were run in the 1970s. Valuable archives are still held by the press.
Above from Wikipedia
Some limited editions of books and broadsides printed by the Cuala Press
http://digital.library.villanova.edu/Cuala%20Press%20Broadside%20Collection/
