Hidden Collections: Cuala Press
In support of the anticipated Offit Gallery exhibition of selected prints by Federico Castellon, Gottesman Libraries staff have been assembling and curating additional material that focuses more specifically on Teachers College contribution to printmaking and collections that Gottesman Libraries has made.
We re-discovered a particularly fascinating collection consisting of select broadsides and greeting cards from Cuala (pronounced COOL-a, an early name for Dublin) Press (1908-1946). While Gottesman Libraries and the Special Collections team has yet to discover more details regarding the acquisition of this collection—the aesthetic composition and history of the press reaffirms this hidden collection as a valuable addition to Gottesman Libraries and Teachers College.
A Brief History
According to the University College of Cork, Ireland, Cuala Press was:
"[W}as an Irish private press set up in 1908 by Elizabeth Yeats with support from her brother William Butler Yeats. The Cuala Press evolved from the Dun Emer Press which was founded in 1902 by Evelyn Gleeson, Elizabeth Yeats and William Butler Yeats. The Cuala Press (1908-1946) published limited edition works by writers including Yeats, Lady Gregory, Colum, Synge, and Gogarty."
Cuala Press played an important role in the Celtic Revival of the early 20th century. It was intended that the new press would produce work by writers associated with the Irish Literary Revival. Cuala Press published 70 titles including 48 by William Butler Yeats.
The press was unusual–as well as exceptional—in that it was the only Arts and Crafts press to be run and staffed by women and the only one that published new work rather than established classics. After Elizabeth Yeats died in 1940, the work of the press was carried on by two of her long-time assistants, Esther Ryan and Mollie Gill under the management of Mrs. W. B. Yeats. In 1969 the press was taken up by W. B. Yeats' children, Michael and Anne Yeats, with Liam Miller. Some titles were run in the 1970s.The legacy of Cuala does not necessarily lay with the quality of its design. In fact, even during its most productive period the press was not known as an exceptionally fine printing house (University of Notre Dame, Hesburgh Library, but instead was lauded for its role in the Gaelic Revival of the late 19th and early 20th century, publishing first editions of Irish authors such as W.B. Yeats, Lady Gregory, and J.M. Synge.
In addition to books, the press was well known for its printing of Christmas cards, literary broadsides, and illustrations. Many of these illustrations were drawn by Jack B. Yeats, offering a glimpse of traditional Irish lore and landscapes—which proved of some importance after Ireland won their independence from England in 1921. According to Betsy Reid in her 2020 Guardian article The forgotten ‘weird sisters’ of WB Yeats who helped forge Irish identity the books and images produced by the women at Cuala Press
"[B]olstered fragile national confidence – and impressed foreigners with vibrant images of a prosperous Dublin thriving, rural traditions. It was a rebuttal to racist British tropes of a land populated by feckless, simian- like hooligans combatting the prevailing attitudes concerning the Irish not only in Great Britain, but abroad in places like the United States,and Europe, as the publications and prints were part of various exhibitions".
Cuala Press and Teachers College
The humble collection of Cuala Press material at Gottesman Libraries consists of approximately 35 individual greeting and Christmas cards, as well as illustrated and literary broadsides, labeled on the reverse side with a date of “11/3/31”. The content is consistent with historical descriptions of landscapes, Irish traditionals, and poets of the day. There are the “Letters of Mrs. Delany, 1726”, A Donegal Proverb, “An Old Gaelic Rune”, and “The Connaght Toast”, alongside modern poets such as Padraic Colum, Monk Gibbon, Susan L. Mitchell, and W.B. Yeats.
Below is a small selection of material from the collection.
Additional Resources:
For those interested in a more complete history of Cuala Press, please refer to Fifty Years of Cuala Press, Colby Quarterly, Vol. 3, Issue 11, August 1953.
Jack Butler Yeats: Drawings and Illustrations. Falvey Library Special Collections, Villanova University
Cuala Press Project: Schooner Foundation. Trinity College Dublin.
The Cuala Press Collection. Hesburgh Libraries, Rare Books and Special Collections, University of Notre Dame
Cuala Press Print Collection. ZSR Library, Special Collections and Archives, Wake Forest University.
