DUN EMER PRESS: AE.

£375 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

The Nuts of Knowledge. First edition, first impression, one of 200 copies. This poetry collection, the second work of the press, established the binding style for all subsequent works. George William Russell, who wrote under the pseudonym AE, was closely connected to the Yeats family, especially to William Butler, and was a leading figure in the artistic and theosophical movements of Dublin.The Dun Emer Press was named for co-founder Evelyn Gleeson's home in Dundrum, near Dublin. The press, established with Lily and Elizabeth Yeats in late 1902, ran alongside an embroidery and rug making workshop. Eleven titles were released under the Dun Emer imprint, which was renamed the Cuala Press when the Yeats sisters split from Gleeson in 1908.This copy is from the library of Louis Claude Purser (1854-1932), brother of the artist Sarah Purser. A fellow classics student with Oscar Wilde at school, Purser was appointed professor of Latin at Trinity College, Dublin, and later served as president of the Royal Irish Academy. Elizabeth Yeats was his closest female friend, and he was on the subscribers list for the press from its inception.

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