Editing Dun Emer Press (section)

==History==
In 1902, [[Elizabeth Yeats|Elizabeth]] and her sister [[Lily Yeats]] joined [[Evelyn Gleeson]] in establishing a craft studio at [[Dundrum, Dublin|Dundrum]], near [[Dublin]], called Dun Emer. This specialized in printing and other crafts, with Elizabeth Yeats in charge of the printing press.<ref>John Sheehy, ''The Rediscovery of Ireland's Past: The Celtic Revival 1830–1930'' (Thames and Hudson, 1980), p. 158</ref><ref>William M. Murphy, ''Dun Emer, 1902–1908''</ref> While living in [[London]], Elizabeth Yeats had been part of the circle of [[William Morris]], and had been inspired by his printing work. Gleeson offered the Yeats sisters her large house in Dundrum, in which a crafts group providing training and work for young women, in the fields of bookbinding, printing, weaving, and embroidery, could live and work.<ref name=pgil>[http://www.ricorso.net/rx/az-data/authors/y/Yeats_E/life.htm Elizabeth Yeats]</ref><ref>[[Sheila Pim]], 'Dun Emer: The Origins', in ''Irish Arts Review'' (1984-1987), Vol. 2, No. 2 (Summer, 1985), pp. 18-22</ref> Bookbinding workshops were a later addition to the studio.<ref name=ubc>[http://www.library.ubc.ca/spcoll/Colbeck/publishers/cuala.htm Cuala/Dun Emer Press] at ubc.ca</ref> The sisters' cousin [[Ruth Pollexfen]] served as Lily's apprentice in the embroidery section.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.womenaustralia.info/biogs/AWE4870b.htm|title=Poole, Ruth Lane (1885 - 1974)|work=The Australian Women's Register|first=Maggie|last=Shapley|year=2013}}</ref>

The Dun Emer studio and press were named after [[Emer]], daughter of Forgall Monach, wife of the hero [[Cú Chulainn|Cúchulainn]] in the [[Ulster Cycle]] of [[Irish mythology]], a figure famous for her artistic skills as well as her beauty.<ref name=pgil/> The title-page device of the Dun Emer Press was designed by [[Elinor Darwin|Elinor Monsell]] and shows Emer standing underneath a tree. Monsell also created the symbol of the [[Abbey Theatre]], [[Dublin]], which depicts [[Medb|Maeve]] with a [[wolf hunting with dogs|wolfhound]].<ref>[http://infoshare1.princeton.edu/rbsc2/ga/unseenhands/printers/yeats.html Elizabeth Corbet Yeats] at princeton.edu</ref> The focus of the Press was on publishing literary work by Irish authors,<ref>[http://mulibraries.missouri.edu/specialcollections/privatepresscd.htm#dun Dun Emer Press] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090525141035/http://mulibraries.missouri.edu/specialcollections/privatepresscd.htm#dun |date=2009-05-25 }} at missouri.edu</ref> and Elizabeth and Lily Yeats's younger brother, the artist [[Jack Butler Yeats]], did much of the illustration work.<ref name=ubc/>

In 1904, the Dun Emer crafts studio was organized into two parts, the [[Dun Emer Guild]] under Gleeson and [[Dun Emer Industries]] under the Yeats sisters.<ref>Sheehy, ''op. cit.'', p. 161</ref><ref>Paul Larmour, 'The Dun Emer Guild', in ''Irish Arts Review'' (1984-1987), Vol. 1, No. 4 (Winter, 1984), pp. 24-28</ref>

The Dun Emer Press produced [[special edition|limited editions]] of books, printed by hand in the manner of William Morris's [[Kelmscott Press]].<ref>Robin Skelton, 'Twentieth-Century Irish Literature and the Private Press Tradition: Dun Emer, Cuala, & Dolmen Presses 1902-1963' in ''The Massachusetts Review'', vol. 5, no. 2 (Winter 1964), pp. 368-377</ref> The texts it published were written or selected by W. B. Yeats,<ref>Robert Hogan, ''The Macmillan Dictionary of Irish Literature'' (1980), p. 182</ref> who was the press's literary editor and who also subsidized its operations, which lacked profitability.<ref name=enc>Patrick Maume, ''[http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O245-DunEmerPress.html Dun Emer Press]'' (from ''The Oxford Companion to Irish History'', 2007) at encyclopedia.com</ref> In its [[prospectus (book)|prospectus]] issued early in 1903, the press boasted of "a good eighteenth century [[font|fount]] of type" and "paper made of [[linen]] rags and without bleaching chemicals".<ref>David Holdeman, ''Much labouring: the texts and authors of Yeats's first modernist books'' (1997) [https://books.google.com/books?id=8_IT9uUXlIMC&pg=PA32 p. 32] online</ref>

As well as books, the Press also printed broadsheets designed by Jack Yeats, and hand-coloured [[greeting card]]s.<ref name=enc/> In 1908, after the Press had produced eleven literary titles, the different elements of the Dun Emer studio separated completely, with Gleeson retaining the Dun Emer name. The Yeats sisters left Dundrum and took the new name Cuala for their operations, Elizabeth establishing the [[Cuala Press]] at [[Churchtown, Dublin]].<ref>[http://libweb2.princeton.edu/rbsc2/ga/unseenhands/printers/yeats.html Elizabeth Yeats] at princeton.edu (Unseen Hands: Women Printers, Binders and Book Designers)</ref><ref>[http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O245-DunEmerPress.html Dun Emer Press] at encyclopedia.com</ref>