Dolmen Press

The Dolmen Press was founded by Liam and Josephine Miller in 1951.^[1] The Dolmen Press was a beacon in a dark time for Irish publishing and occupies a central position in the story of Irish poetry after W. B. Yeats. Liam had returned to Dublin after working as an architect for two years in London. He acquired an Adana Hand Press and with no previous experience to guide him printed 500 copies of ‘Travelling Tinkers’ a collection of four ballads by Sigerson Clifford and it was from this that the Dolmen Press was born.^[2] The Press operated in Dublin from 1951 until Liam Miller's death in 1987. The division took printing jobs from publishers as well as theatres, art galleries, businesses and individuals.

Founded to provide a publishing outlet for Irish poetry, the Press also heavily featured the work of Irish artists.^[3] 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 life and works of W.B. Yeats is a recurring theme in a variety of works, including the Yeats Centenary Series. One highlight in the Press' history was the publication of The Táin in 1969. Thomas Kinsella's translation of the Irish epic poem took 15 years from concept to publication and represented a milestone in Irish publishing. By the 1980s the Press had created the Brogeen Books division for juvenile works, and many of the later publications were under this imprint.

In 2001, a collection of essays, The Dolmen Press: a Celebration, was published by Lilliput Press.

Further reading

• Brady, Anne (2005). The Bookmaker. Bethesda, Maryland: Wild Apple Press. 
• Maurice ed. (2001). The Dolmen Press: a Celebration. Dublin: Lilliput Press.
• Miller, Liam (1976). Dolmen XXV: an Illustrated Bibliography of the Dolmen Press, 1951-1976. Dublin: Dolmen Editions. 
• Redshaw, Thomas Dillon. 'The Dolmen Poets': Liam Miller and Poetry Publishing in Ireland, 1951–1961. Irish University Review. Vol, 42:1, p. 141-154 DOI 10.3366/iur.2012.0013, http://www.euppublishing.com/doi/abs/10.3366/iur.2012.0013
• Skelton, Robin, "Twentieth-Century Irish Literature and the Private Press Tradition: Dun Emer, Cuala, & Dolmen Presses 1902-1963" The Massachusetts Review, Volume 5, Number 2, Winter 1964, pp. 368–377.

References

External links

• Dolmen Press Collection - Printing Block Series, digital collection at the Z. Smith Reynolds Library, Wake Forest University
• Dolmen Press collection at University of Victoria, Special Collections