Elizabeth Yeats - Definition and Overview

The Dun Emer Press in 1903 with Elizabeth Yeats working the hand press

Elizabeth Corbet Yeats (1868 – 1940) 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 Yeats. She trained and worked as an art teacher and was a member of William Morris's circle in London before her family returned to Dublin in 1900

In Dublin, she accepted invitation to join Evelyn Gleeson to form the Dun Emer Guild along with Susan, who was a needleworker. Elizabeth managed the Dun Emer Press from 1902. The Press was located at Runnymede, the house of Evelyn Gleeson. (This house, located in Dundrum, was later renamed Dun Emer. It has since been demolished.) This was set up with the intention of training young women in bookbinding and printing.

In 1904, she and her brother William started the Cuala Press, publishing over 70 books including 48 by the poet. Elizabeth was the first commercial printer in Ireland to work exclusively with hand presses.

References

• Elizabeth Yeats at the Princess Grace Irish Library (http://www.pgil-eirdata.org/html/pgil_datasets/authors/y/Yeats,E/life.htm)
• Elizabeth Yeats at Unseen Hands: Women Printers, Binders and Book Designers (http://libweb2.princeton.edu/rbsc2/ga/unseenhands/printers/yeats.html)

Further reading

• Hardwick, Joan. The Yeats Sisters : A Biography of Susan and Elizabeth Yeats. (HarperCollins. Pandora, 1996). ISBN 0-04-440924-9.