There's been some big changes happening on my side, and I'm hoping there'll be some changes in store for the blog as well. I'm going to get back to updating and reading once again when I've figured out what I want for this place. It's been a bit all over the shop up to this point - I don't know how to categorise it. I don't like falling into any category or labelling myself, but I feel like the blog is in need of some identity - a categorization, some discipline. It's not strictly a 'lifestyle' blog, its not a 'personal' tell all blog, but I am a bit afraid of the title 'personal style' blog, because I don't see myself as particularly stylish, and I don't intend to serve as """"inspiration""""" for anyone else. That being said, I am fascinated by people's style, art and design, so maybe that's the label I should be leaning toward. What do you think? Any comments or thoughts appreciated!
At the moment, I am off sweets and chocolate and junk (biscuits, etc) for Lent!
I've only started noticing the wee collections of sweets I have dotted around my room - too much temptation, but its day 4 now and I've not been this long without sugar since I was about 16.
I'll catch up with you all soon! And boy, is there a lot of catching up to be done.
xoxo
The blog is a little neglected of late, due to my move (more on that later).
For the interim, I have written a short piece about the Dun Emer/Cuala Press press mark, iconic to those, like me, whose research interests lie in the Irish Celtic, Artistic and Literary revival at the turn of the nineteenth-century. I thought it would be appropriate, considering it is St. Bridget's Day and the beginning of Spring here.
“The Lady Emer Standing by a Tree”, (image via Scolar Cardiff).
The Cuala Press (est. 1908) began its life as part of the Dun Emer Guild, founded by the Yeats sisters (Elizabeth and Lily, sisters of the poet) and their friend Evelyn Gleeson in 1902, in Dundrum, Co. Dublin. 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. Elizabeth Yeats initally began her career working with William Morris, founder of the Kelmscott Press, and Cuala took inspiration from Morris’s Arts and Crafts Movement. Unlike most Arts and Crafts presses, however, the Cuala Press concentrated on publishing new works, often by writers associated with the Irish Literary Revival.
The title-page woodcut pressmark, seen here, was designed by friend Elinor Monsell, entitled “The Lady Emer Standing by a Tree”. Monsell, born in Co. Limerick, had studied at the Slade School of Art in London, and also designed the Abbey Theatre logo, which depicts which depicts Maeve with a wolfhound.
