Elizabeth Yeats

Elizabeth Corbet Yeats (11 March 1868 – 16 January 1940), known as Lolly, was an Irish educator and publisher. She worked as an art teacher and published several books on art, and was a founder of Dun Emer Press, which published several works by her brother W. B. Yeats. 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. She was the daughter of the Irish artist John Butler Yeats and Susan Yeats (née Pollexfen). She was sister to W. B., Jack and Susan Mary "Lily" Yeats. From the age of four, Elizabeth 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. learning "Freehand drawing in all its branches, practical Geometry and perspective, pottery and tile painting, design for decorative purposes". Yeats managed the Dun Emer Press from 1902 with a printing press acquired from a provincial newspaper. Subsequently, in 1908, Lolly and her brother William started the Cuala Press, 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).

She worked with Cuala Press until short of her death on 16 January 1940, after a diagnosis of high blood pressure and heart trouble. Her death was reported in the United States a month later.