Industry | Books, publishing |
---|---|
Founded | 1951 |
Founder | Liam and Josephine Miller |
Headquarters | Dublin, Ireland |
Products | Books |
Dolmen Press was an Irish book publisher founded by Liam and Josephine Miller in 1951. [1]
In 1951 Liam acquired an Adana hand press from Blanaid and Cecil Ffrench Salkeld on loan [2] which they had used for their Gayfield Press, with a case of Bodoni type. [3] Some accounts state that the first publication of the press was 500 copies of a collection of four ballads, Travelling Tinkers, by Sigerson Clifford. [4] Others believe that the first publication printed was Thomas Kinsella’s The Starlit Eye. [2] The Press took printing jobs from publishers as well as theatres, art galleries, businesses and individuals. [4] The Press later printed using an Albion flat bed press and Caslon type. [3]
Founded to provide a publishing outlet for Irish poetry, the Press published the work of Irish artists and other artists, such as Elizabeth Rivers, working in Ireland. The scope of the press grew to include prose literature by Irish authors as well as a broad range of critical works about Irish literature and theatre. The Press published a variety of works by W.B. Yeats, as well as the Yeats Centenary Series. In 1969, the Press published Thomas Kinsella's translation of The Táin which took 15 years from concept to final publication and featured illustrations by Louis le Brocquy. The Press created the Brogeen Books division in the 1980s for books aimed at young readers. The Press operated in Dublin from 1951 until Liam Miller's death in 1987. [4]
The National Library of Ireland purchased the Dolmen Press collection of ephemera in 2009 from Jack Gamble of Emerald Isle Books. [4] The Library of Trinity College Dublin's Dolmen Press Collection contains 387 items published by Dolmen as well as the Freyer Dolmen Press Collection, containing 446 Dolmen Press imprints. [5]
John Butler Yeats RHA was an Irish artist. Born into a family of impoverished Anglo-Irish landholders, his father was the painter John Butler Yeats, and his brother was the poet W. B. Yeats. Jack B. was born in London but was raised in County Sligo with his maternal grandparents, before returning to London in 1887 to live with his parents. Afterwards he travelled frequently between the two countries; while in Ireland he lived mainly in Greystones, County Wicklow and in Dublin city.
John Butler Yeats was an Irish artist and the father of W. B. Yeats, Lily Yeats, Elizabeth Corbett "Lollie" Yeats and Jack Butler Yeats. The National Gallery of Ireland holds a number of his portraits in oil and works on paper, including one of his portraits of his son William, painted in 1900. His portrait of John O'Leary (1904) is considered his masterpiece.
Isabella Augusta, Lady Gregory was an Anglo-Irish dramatist, folklorist and theatre manager. With William Butler Yeats and Edward Martyn, she co-founded the Irish Literary Theatre and the Abbey Theatre, and wrote numerous short works for both companies. Lady Gregory produced a number of books of retellings of stories taken from Irish mythology. Born into a class that identified closely with British rule, she turned against it. Her conversion to cultural nationalism, as evidenced by her writings, was emblematic of many of the political struggles that occurred in Ireland during her lifetime.
Blánaid Salkeld was an Irish poet, dramatist, actor, and publisher, whose well-known literary salon was attended by, among others, Patrick Kavanagh and Flann O'Brien.
Liam O'Flaherty was an Irish novelist and short-story writer, and one of the foremost socialist writers in the first part of the 20th century, writing about the common people's experience and from their perspective. Others are Seán O'Casey, Pádraic Ó Conaire, Peadar O'Donnell, Máirtín Ó Cadhain, and Seosamh Mac Grianna all of them Irish language speakers who chose to write either in Irish or English.
Thomas Kinsella was an Irish poet, translator, editor, and publisher. Born outside Dublin, Kinsella attended University College Dublin before entering the civil service. He began publishing poetry in the early 1950s and, around the same time, translated early Irish poetry into English. In the 1960s, he moved to the United States to teach English at universities including Temple University. Kinsella continued to publish steadily until the 2010s.
Padraic Colum was an Irish poet, novelist, dramatist, biographer, playwright, children's author and collector of folklore. He was one of the leading figures of the Irish Literary Revival.
The Dun Emer Press 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 Cuala Press.
Anne Butler Yeats was an Irish painter, costume and stage designer.
Donagh MacDonagh was an Irish writer, judge, presenter, broadcaster, and playwright.
John Jordan was an Irish poet and short-story writer.
The Tain illustrations are a series of drawings that illustrated Táin Bó Cúailnge. In 1967 Louis le Brocquy was commissioned by publisher Liam Miller to illustrate Thomas Kinsella's inspired version of the Táin Bó Cúailnge, the record of Ireland's proto-historic past.
The Library of Trinity College Dublin serves Trinity College. It is a legal deposit or "copyright library", under which, publishers in Ireland must deposit a copy of all their publications there, without charge. It is the only Irish library to hold such rights for works published in the United Kingdom.
John Ryan (1925–1992) was an Irish artist, broadcaster, publisher, critic, editor, and publican.
Richard Weber was an Irish poet.
Sáirséal agus Dill was a publisher of Irish-language books based in Dublin, Ireland.
Peppercanister Press was a small press in Dublin founded by Thomas Kinsella to publish his own poetry. In later years, the series began to be published by Dedalus Press.
Mary "Paul" Pollard was a librarian at the Library of Trinity College Dublin and a specialist in early printed books.
Cecil Ffrench Salkeld was an Irish painter, printmaker, critic and writer.
Michael Biggs was an Irish sculptor, stone carver and letterist of English extraction.