Elizabeth Yeats
Encyclopedia
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. She was the daughter of the Irish artist John Butler Yeats
John Butler Yeats
John Butler Yeats was an Irish artist and the father of William Butler Yeats, Lily Yeats, Lollie Yeats and Jack B. Yeats. He is probably best known for his portrait of the young William Butler Yeats which is one of a number of his portraits of Irishmen and women in the Yeats museum in the National...
and sister of W. B., Jack and Susan Mary "Lily" Yeats. She trained and worked as an art
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
teacher and was a member of William Morris
William Morris
William Morris 24 March 18343 October 1896 was an English textile designer, artist, writer, and socialist associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the English Arts and Crafts Movement...
's circle in London before her family returned to Dublin in 1900. At the suggestion of Emery Walker
Emery Walker
Sir Emery Walker was an English engraver and printer.Born in London, Walker took an active role in many organisations that were at the heart of the Arts and Crafts movement, including the Art Workers Guild, the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings and the Arts and Crafts Exhibition...
, who worked with Morris on the Kelmscott Press, Yeats studied printing with the Women's Printing Society in London.
In Dublin, she accepted the invitation to join Evelyn Gleeson to form the Dun Emer Guild along with Lily, who was an embroiderer
Embroidery
Embroidery is the art or handicraft of decorating fabric or other materials with needle and thread or yarn. Embroidery may also incorporate other materials such as metal strips, pearls, beads, quills, and sequins....
. Yeats managed the Dun Emer Press
Dun Emer Press
The Dun Emer Press was an Irish private press founded in 1902 by Elizabeth Yeats and her brother William Butler Yeats, part of the Celtic Revival. It was named after the legendary Emer and evolved into the Cuala Press.-History:...
from 1902. The Press was located at Runnymede, the house of Evelyn Gleeson. (This house, located in Dundrum
Dundrum
Dundrum is the name of several places:in Ireland:*Dundrum, Dublin, a suburb of Dublin city.**Dundrum Town Centre, a shopping centre*Dundrum, County Tipperary** the Dundrum meteorite of 1865, which fell in Munster, Ireland...
, was later renamed Dun Emer. It has since been demolished.) This was set up with the intention of training young women in bookbinding
Bookbinding
Bookbinding is the process of physically assembling a book from a number of folded or unfolded sheets of paper or other material. It usually involves attaching covers to the resulting text-block.-Origins of the book:...
and printing
Printing
Printing is a process for reproducing text and image, typically with ink on paper using a printing press. It is often carried out as a large-scale industrial process, and is an essential part of publishing and transaction printing....
.
In 1908, she and her brother William started the Cuala Press
Cuala Press
The Cuala Press was an Irish private press set up in 1908 by Elizabeth Yeats with support from her brother William Butler Yeats that played an important role in the Celtic Revival of the early 20th century.-Origins:...
, publishing over 70 books including 48 by the poet. Yeats was the first commercial printer in Ireland to work exclusively with hand presses.
Further reading
- Hardwick, Joan. The Yeats Sisters : A Biography of Susan and Elizabeth Yeats. (HarperCollins. Pandora, 1996.) ISBN 0-04-440924-9.
- William M. Murphy. 'Dun Emer, 1902–1905'; 'William Butler Yeats and the Weird Sisters'; 'Cuala: The Partnership, 1908–1923'; 'Cuala: The Separation': in Family Secrets: William Butler Yeats and His Relatives. Syracuse University, 1995.