| Collection Description | The Cuala Press began in 1902 as the Dun Emer Press and the Yeats' Sisters, Elizabeth Corbet (Lolly) Yeats
(1868-1940) and Susan Mary (Lily) Yeats (1886-1949) were founding members along with Evelyn Gleeson
(1855-1944). In 1908 the Yeats' Sisters split from Evelyn Gleeson and the Dun Emer Press and they founded
the Cuala Press in Churchtown, Co. Dublin. In the 1930s the Press moved to 133 Baggot Street, where they
could showcase and sell their books, prints, cards, and embroideries directly to the public. Elizabeth Corbet
Yeats died on the 16th January 1940 but the press continued in Palmerstown Road by Georgie Hyde-Lees
(1892-1968), wife of W.B Yeats (1865-1939) along with two of Elizabeth Yeats long-time assistants, Esther
'Essie' Ryan (1889-1961) and Maire 'Mollie' Gill (1891-1977) with F.R Higgins (1896-1941) as editor until
Georgie Hyde-Lees died in 1968.
In 1969, the press was taken up by W. B. Yeats' children, Michael (1921-2007) and Anne Yeats (1919-2001),
with Liam Miller (1924-1987). The Cuala Press ceased operation in 1986 when Anne and Michael Yeats
presented the remaining archive and printing equipment to TCD Library. The material was transferred in
October of that year, the archive being housed in the Department of Early Printed Books and Special
Collections and the printing equipment in Trinity Closet Press. A subsequent accession was made in 2011. The
collection (apart from the printing equipment) was transferred to the Manuscripts & Archives Research Library in
June 2016. [Trinity College Dublin] |
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