Elizabeth Corbet Yeats (11 March 1868 – 16 January 1940), known as Lolly, was an Anglo-Irish educator and publisher. She worked as an art teacher and published several books on art, and was a founder of

Dun Emer Press The Dun Emer Press (''fl.'' 1902–1908) was an Irish private press founded in 1902 by Evelyn Gleeson, Elizabeth Yeats and her brother William Butler Yeats, part of the Celtic Revival. It was named after the legendary Emer and evolved into the Cu ...

which published several works by her brother

W. B. Yeats William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...

. She was the first commercial printer in Ireland to work exclusively with hand presses.

Early life and education

Elizabeth Corbet Yeats was born at 23 Fitzroy Road,

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. She was the daughter of the Irish artist

John Butler Yeats John Butler Yeats (16 March 1839 – 3 February 1922) was an Irish people, Irish artist and the father of W. B. Yeats, Lily Yeats, Elizabeth Yeats, Elizabeth Corbett "Lolly" Yeats and Jack Butler Yeats. The National Gallery of Ireland holds a nu ...

and Susan Yeats (née Pollexfen). She was sister to W. B.,

Jack Jack may refer to: Places * Jack, Alabama, US, an unincorporated community * Jack, Missouri, US, an unincorporated community * Jack County, Texas, a county in Texas, USA People and fictional characters * Jack (given name), a male given name, ...

and Susan Mary "Lily" Yeats. From the age of four she lived in Merville, Sligo, at the home of her grandfather William Pollexfen. In November 1874 her family moved to 14 Edith Villas, West Kensington, London. Her governess was Martha Jowitt from 1876 until 1879 before the family moved to Bedford Park, Chiswick, in 1878. Yeats returned to

Howth Howth ( ; ; non, Hǫfuð) is an affluent peninsular village and outer suburb of Dublin, Ireland. The district as a whole occupies the greater part of the peninsula of Howth Head, which forms the northern boundary of Dublin Bay, and includes ...

, Co. Dublin in 1881. She enrolled, with her sister Susan, in the

Dublin Metropolitan School of Art The National College of Art and Design (NCAD) is Ireland's oldest art institution, offering the largest range of art and design degrees at undergraduate and postgraduate level in the country. Originating as a drawing school in 1746, many of th ...

in 1883 and took classes at the Royal Dublin Society. The family moved to Eardley Crescent, South Kensington, London, in 1886. While there Yeats started to write fiction and published a home-made magazine, The Pleiades, with six friends, contributing ‘Story without a plot’ to the Christmas 1888 issue. In addition, she published ‘Scamp and three friends’ in The Vegetarian. Yeats also attended the

Chiswick School of Art The Chiswick School of Art, sometimes called the Chiswick School of Art and Science, was an art school in Bath Road, Bedford Park, London, from 1881 until 1899, which was then merged into the Acton and Chiswick Polytechnic. In 1928, it became the Ch ...

with her sister Susan and brother

Jack Butler Yeats Jack Butler Yeats RHA (29 August 1871 – 28 March 1957) was an Irish art The history of Irish art starts around 3200 BC with Neolithic stone carvings at the Newgrange megalithic tomb, part of the Brú na Bóinne complex which still stands ...

, learning "Freehand drawing in all its branches, practical Geometry and perspective, pottery and tile painting, design for decorative purposes". In the 1890s she lived at 3 Blenheim Road, Bedford Park, London and trained as a kindergarten teacher at the Froebel College in Bedford, Bedfordshire. She undertook her teaching practice at the Bedford Park High School. In 1892 when her training was completed she taught as a visiting art mistress at the Froebel Society, Chiswick High School and the Central Foundation School.

Career

Lecturing and publication of four popular painting manuals: ''Brushwork'' (1896), ''Brushwork studies of flowers, fruits and animals'' (1898), ''Brushwork copy book'' (1899), and ''Elementary brushwork studies'' (1900) and earned Yeats a good income. She trained and worked as an

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

teacher and was a member of

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He ...

's circle in London before her family returned to

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

in 1900. Yeats wrote and created the artwork for ''Elementary Brush-Work Studies'' (published in 1900), an educational book that teaches young children the technique of painting flowers and plants using her simple method. At the suggestion of

Emery Walker Sir Emery Walker FSA (2 April 1851 – 22 July 1933) was an English engraver, photographer and printer. Walker took an active role in many organisations that were at the heart of the Arts and Crafts movement, including the Art Workers G ...

, who worked with Morris on the

Kelmscott Press The Kelmscott Press, founded by William Morris and Emery Walker, published fifty-three books in sixty-six volumes between 1891 and 1898. Each book was designed and ornamented by Morris and printed by hand in limited editions of around 300. Many ...

, Yeats studied printing with the

Women's Printing Society The Women's Printing Society was a British publishing house founded in either 1874 or 1876 by Emma Paterson and Emily Faithfull with the company being officially incorporated as a cooperative in 1878. Involvement in the suffragist movement The ...

in London. Elizabeth Corbet Yeats

In Dublin, she accepted the invitation to join

Evelyn Gleeson Evelyn Gleeson (15 May 1855 – 20 February 1944) was an England, English embroidery, carpet, and tapestry designer, who along with Elizabeth Yeats, Elizabeth and Lily Yeats established the Dun Emer Press. Early life and education Evelyn Gleeso ...

to form the

Dun Emer Guild The Dun Emer Guild (1902–1964) was an Irish Arts and Crafts textile studio founded in 1902 by Evelyn Gleeson, initially in partnership with Elizabeth and Lily Yeats as Dun Emer Industries and Press. History The Dun Emer Guild was the textile pr ...

along with Lily, who was an embroiderer. "The name Dun Emer (Fort of Emer) was named for the Lady Emer, wife of the hero Cúchulainn, renowned in Irish folklore for her beauty and artistic skills." Yeats managed the

from 1902 with a printing press acquired from a provincial newspaper. 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 Bookbinding is the process of physically assembling a book of codex format from an ordered stack of ''signatures'', sheets of paper folded together into sections that are bound, along one edge, with a thick needle and strong thread. Cheaper, b ...

and

printing Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The ea ...

as well as

embroidery Embroidery is the craft of decorating fabric or other materials using a needle to apply thread or yarn. Embroidery may also incorporate other materials such as pearls, beads, quills, and sequins. In modern days, embroidery is usually seen ...

and

weaving Weaving is a method of textile production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. Other methods are knitting, crocheting, felting, and braiding or plaiting. The longitudinal th ...

. In 1903 Yeats started printing and Dun Emer's first book was W. B. Yeats's '' In the seven woods'' (1903). Despite being a gifted printer, the costings exceeded the quality of work that Yeats produced with the result that the press (like the guild) was often at risk financially. Eleven books, decorated with pastels by

George William Russell George William Russell (10 April 1867 – 17 July 1935), who wrote with the pseudonym Æ (often written AE or A.E.), was an Irish writer, editor, critic, poet, painter and Irish nationalist. He was also a writer on mysticism, and a centra ...

, appeared under the Dun Emer imprint produced from a first-floor room. Yeats had several disagreements with her brother William over his directions as literary editor. She also disliked Evelyn Gleeson. In October 1906 she travelled to New York to advertise her products but published Dun Emer's last book William's Discoveries (1907) in late November when she returned to Dublin. After many years of strained relations between the Yeats sisters and

, their business relationship was finally ended. Subsequently, in 1908, Lolly and her brother William started the

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. Originally Dun Emer Press, from 1908 u ...

, publishing over 70 books including 48 by the poet. Yeats managed the press while her sister Lily controlled the embroidery section. Cuala continued to be a family strain. Their father, John Butler Yeats, had to castigate his son William for sending overtly critical letters to his sisters about the press. However, Cuala produced magnificent books: W. B. Yeats' '' The green helmet and other poems'' (1910) and a series of Broadsides (published 1908–15, with illustrations from Jack Yeats). Yeats was the first commercial printer in Ireland to work exclusively with hand presses. She worked with Cuala Press until short of her death on 16 January 1940 after a diagnosis of high blood pressure and heart trouble.

References

*Lewis, Gifford. ''The Yeats sisters and the Cuala''. (Irish Academic Press, 1994).
Elizabeth Yeats at Unseen Hands: Women Printers, Binders and Book Designers

External links

Dun Emer and Cuala Press publications explored in National Library of Ireland exhibition

"Elementary Brush-Work Studies" at Villanova University Digital Library

Yeats Society Sligo

Boston College collection of Yeats family papers
at John J. Burns Library,

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yeats, Elizabeth Elizabeth Corbet British book publishers (people) Irish designers Small press publishing companies 1940 deaths 1868 births 19th-century Irish women 19th-century Irish painters 20th-century Irish painters 20th-century Irish women Private press movement people

Early life and education

Career

See also

References

Further reading

External links