Cuala Press Prints Collection
Cuala Press was a printing press established in 1902 as the Dun Emer Press, founded by Yeats sisters, Elizabeth (Lolly) and Mary (Lily), and friend Elizabeth Gleeson. The Yeats spun off the Cuala Press in 1908, leaving Gleeson and working with other Yeats family members. The press sought to return printmaking to its artisinal roots and highlight the works of Irish writers and artists. This collection's prints predominantly include excerpts from Irish poets, letters, and proverbs, but also include personal invitations, print devices and advertisements for the Press, photographs, a 1910 Gaelic calendar, and cards.
Biographical and Historical Note
Cuala Press was established in 1908 primarily by Elizabeth Corbet Yeats, with the help of her brother William B. Yeats in Dundrum, near Dublin, Ireland. It began as the Dun Emer Press in a craft studio in 1902 as part of the Celtic Revival, with sister Lily Yeats and friend Elizabeth Gleeson. As the press expanded, Gleeson and Lily Yeats headed needlework operations while tasked printing operations, and eventually the Yeats family separated entirely from Gleeson, spawning Cuala Industries.
The Yeats brothers and sisters upheld a diverse creative legacy: Elizabeth and Lily were multi-talented craftswomen, W. B. was a renouned writer, and Jack was a painter and illustrative printmaker. Elizabeth formally trained at the Women's Printing Society in London, and hired predominantly women as her printing assistants. She sought to reassert the intimate historical artisanship of Irish printing away from mass production, unnaturally refined materials, and systematized processes, instead prioritizing the fine arts originally animating the craft.
This intimacy expanded into Cuala Industries' sales model, as the Yeats women were known to hold small-batch sales exhibitions of recent works. Each print's design had to be approved by Elizabeth and editor W. B., considerably reducing the pool of approved poets and artists used at the Press. Cuala Press enjoyed printing new works, especially including the writings of W. B. Yeats, Susan L. Langstaff, George William "A.E." Russell, Katharine Tynan, Louis H. Brandley, and Ċraoibín Aoiḃinn, among others. Highlighted artists include E.C.B. (real name unknown), Dorothy Blackham, Lady Beatrice Glenavy, and Jack, Elizabeth, and Mary Yeats.
After this original generation of artisans passed away, Yeats' sister-in-law Georgiana Hyde-Lees managed the Press and two female assistants, Mollie Gill and Esther Ryan, overtook its operations until 1968. The press reorganized in 1969 under the stewardship of W. B. Yeats' children Michael and Anne Yeats, alongside Liam Miller, Thomas Kinsella, and Patrick O'Carroll. The Press focused on hand-printing and publishing first-edition Irish works through the 1970s, but had stopped by the end of the decade.
Richard Murdoch was born March 28, 1941, in New York, and spent most of his childhood near Philadephia, Pennsylvania. He began working as the Rare Books and Manuscripts librarian and curator at Z. Smith Reynolds library in 1966, hired shortly after finishing his graduate studies at Villanova University. He was later promoted to Assistant Director of ZSR and editor at the Wake Forest Press, which focuses on printing American editions of Irish Poetry. After leaving WFU around 1989-1990, Murdoch worked briefly at The Book Press in Alexandria, VA, before returning to Winston-Salem and doing archival work and historical education for Old Salem and the Reynolda House. He ran a small printing press from his home, Shadowy Water Press, named after a famous book by W.B. Yeats. Murdoch passed away in October 2019. Several of the prints in this collection belonged to his personal collection.
Collection Overview
This collection contains various print types from the Cuala Press, previously Dun Emer Press. These prints predominantly include the words of Irish poets, letters, and proverbs, but also include personal invitations, print devices and advertisements for the Press, photographs, a 1910 Gaelic calendar, and greeting and holiday cards. This collection also includes a publication, A Broad Sheet, large single-sheet digests of Irish creative works, for each month of 1903. Each of these A Broad Sheet prints were hand set and printed, with artwork from a handful of local artisans. Colored prints were handpainted after printing. The British spelling, hand-coloured, is used for hand-colored since that is the heading that is part of the title printed on the items. Materials are primarily in English but other languages that appear include Greek, Irish Gaelic, Latin, and Welsh.
The collection is arranged in four series: Series 1. Hand-coloured cards, Series 2. Hand-coloured prints, Series 3. Other printed materials, and Series 4. Scrapbook items. Within Series 1-3, items are arranged alphabetically. Materials in the scrapbook are listed as they appear.
Oversize containers A-U refer to the softcover enclosures, and oversize containers 1-18 refer to the hardcover enclosures. In the scrapbook, Box 4, the item number corresponds to the page it is on.
Items with a Richard J. Murdoch Ex Libris stamp and other markings are noted. Unattributed and undated materials are noted if applicable. Items may house multiple copies, with the number of copies denoted in parentheses. When duplicates are housed in the same container, it is noted in the item description.
Administrative Information
- Publication Information
- Processed by Immanuel Eggers and Kainat Tariq, 2021 December
- Access Restrictions
- This collection is open for use.
- Copyright Notice
- The nature of the WFU Z. Smith Reynolds Library Special Collections and Archives means that copyright or other information about restrictions may be difficult or even impossible to determine despite reasonable efforts. The Archives and Special Collections of ZSR Library claims only physical ownership of most materials. The materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to the U.S. Copyright Law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source.
- Preferred Citation
- Cuala Press Prints Collection (MS885), Z. Smith Reynolds Library Special Collections and Archives, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, USA.