The book below left may not look like much (image via B & B Rare Books; colophon, below right, via the University of Chicago), but it is one of only 325 copies of the very first book ever printed by what is one of the most interesting of all the private presses to have arisen during the private press renaissance of the early 20th century:
The Dun Emer Press, as Clare Hutton points out in vol. 2 of the Oxford Companion to the Book, was unusual among these private presses for three reasons:
First, unlike almost all other private presses that printed reprints, Dun Emer issued original literary works associated with the Irish Revival, including works by W. B. Yeats, who acted as editor to the press. Secondly, it was part of a wider Irish arts and crafts cooperative, Dun Emer Industries, committed to the revival of craft in Ireland and, where possible, the use of Irish materials. Unusually for this period, the books were printed on Irish paper. Thirdly, all presswork was done by women, under the supervision of Elizabeth Yeats, who learned to print at the Women's Printing Society in London.... [The title below left is via Princeton University. The broadside, below right, is from Villanova University.]
A recent University of Wisconsin exhibit gives a bit more background on the founding of the press:
Elizabeth Corbet Yeats, Lily Yeats [W. B. Yeats' sisters] and Evelyn Gleeson founded the Dun Emer Press and Industries in 1902 with the purpose of giving training and employment to Irish girls. The original name of the enterprise, Dun Emer, came from Lady Emer, a famous [mythical] Irish embroiderer [while dun is the Irish word for fort]....
In 1908, Dun Emer Industries split into two sep[a]rate companies. Evelyn Gleeson kept the Dun Emer name and the embroidery portion while the press changed its name to the Cuala Press under Elizabeth Yeats. Cuala was the old Irish name for a barony south of Dublin.
The books produced by the Cuala Press were printed on handmade paper and were bound in blue or brown paper boards with linen backs.
The press continued publishing under Elizabeth Yeats until her death in 1940.... Following Elizabeth’s death, the press continued under the direction of Georgiana “George” Yeats, the wife of Yeats. Between 1940 and 1946, the press published fifteen books under her direction. From 1946 to 1968 it published only hand colored prints and greeting cards. The press was reorganized in 1969 by directors Michael B. Yeats, Anne Yeats [W. B. Yeats' children ], Thomas Kinsella, and Liam Miller.... [Only a few titles were published before the press was closed in 1973.]
Altogether, 77 numbered titles, not to mention a large number of broadsides and Christmas cards, were printed by the two presses. Much of this output can now be found in major collections held by the University of Notre Dame and the University of Florida. Many of these titles, and a fair number of the broadsides, were illustrated by another Yeats sibling, Jack Yeats (the broadside below is via Villanova University):
The standard bibliography for both incarnations of the press is Liam Miller's 1973 The Dun Emer Press, Later the Cuala Press: With a List of the Books, Broadsides and Other Pieces Printed at the Press. Miller followed this up, in 1977, with Pressmarks and devices used at the Dun Emer Press and the Cuala Press.
In the ca. 1903 photo below left, reproduced from Miller's 1973 title, Elizabeth Yeats is at the iron handpress, Beatrice Cassidy is rolling out ink and Esther Ryan is correcting proofs at the table. The advertisement for the Cuala Press, below right, is the back cover from W. B. Yeats On the Boiler (1938):
Surprisingly, titles from both incarnations of this press are readily available in the marketplace, with most VG-Fine copies running in the low three- to low four-figures....
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