Advertising, Literature and Print Culture in Ireland, 1891-1922

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xi

   PDF

2. Introduction

   1. Introduction

      • John Strachan, Claire Nally

      Pages 1-15

3. Advertising in Ireland 1850–1914

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 17-17

      PDF

   2. Prologue — The Irish Advertising Scene from the 1850s to the 1880s

      • John Strachan, Claire Nally

      Pages 19-36

   3. Advertising and the Nation in the Irish Revival

      • John Strachan, Claire Nally

      Pages 37-58

4. Print Culture

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 59-59

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   2. The Shan Van Vocht (1896–1899) and The Leader (1900–1936): National Identity in Advertising

      • John Strachan, Claire Nally

      Pages 61-87

   3. The Sinn Féin Depot and the Selling of Irish Sport

      • John Strachan, Claire Nally

      Pages 88-107

   4. The Lady of the House (1890–1921): Gender, Fashion and Domesticity

      • John Strachan, Claire Nally

      Pages 108-136

   5. Unionism, Advertising and the Third Home Rule Bill 1911–1914

      • John Strachan, Claire Nally

      Pages 137-155

5. ‘High’ Culture

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 157-157

      PDF

   2. Oscar Wilde as Editor and Writer: Aesthetic Interventions in Fashion and Material Culture

      • John Strachan, Claire Nally

      Pages 159-177

   3. Consumerism and Anti-Commercialism: The Yeatses, Print Culture and Home Industry

      • John Strachan, Claire Nally

      Pages 178-202

6. Advertising in Ireland 1914–1922

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 203-203

      PDF

   2. Advertising, Ireland and the Great War

      • John Strachan, Claire Nally

      Pages 205-236

   3. Coda — From the Armistice to the Saorstát

      • John Strachan, Claire Nally

      Pages 237-244

7. Back Matter

   Pages 245-310

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This is the first study of the cultural meanings of advertising in the Irish Revival period. John Strachan and Claire Nally shed new light on advanced nationalism in Ireland before and immediately after the Easter Rising of 1916, while also addressing how the wider politics of Ireland, from the Irish Parliamentary Party to anti-Home Rule unionism, resonated through contemporary advertising copy. The book examines the manner in which some of the key authors of the Revival, notably Oscar Wilde and W. B. Yeats, reacted to advertising and to the consumer culture around them. Illustrated with over 60 fascinating contemporary advertising images, this book addresses a diverse and intriguing range of Irish advertising: the pages of An Claidheamh Soluis under Patrick Pearse's editorship, the selling of the Ulster Volunteer Force, the advertising columns of The Lady of the House, the marketing of the sports of the Gaelic Athletic Association, the use of Irish Party politicians in First World War recruitment campaigns, the commemorative paraphernalia surrounding the centenary of the 1798 United Irishmen uprising, and the relationship of Murphy's stout with the British military, Sinn Féin and the Irish Free State.

• Advertising
• English literature
• Oscar Wilde
• William Butler Yeats
• British and Irish Literature

“Scholars from a number of disciplines will find this volume … filled with stimulating discussions regarding the emergence and development of Irish commodity and consumer culture(s). … this study is a very welcome and timely contribution to critical enquiries concerning Ireland’s commercial, consumer and popular culture(s). … As such this collection will be of interest to researchers and students of consumer and commercial culture(s). Irish art, history and literature; it is a worthy beginning to an emerging field of research.” (Robert Finnigan, Nordic Irish Studies, Vol. 13 (2), 2015)

'This adventurous study of literary-mercantile relations in pre-independence Ireland makes a fresh and distinctive contribution to our understanding of Revival-era culture. The authors' skilful explication of the structural mechanics, cultural meanings and political resonances of advertising invites us to reconsider the interrelations between history, literature and consumer culture from a street-level perspective. Thoroughly researched and splendidly documented, this book will be a valuable resource for students, teachers and researchers alike.' - Liam Harte, University of Manchester, UK

'A must read. The book offers an authoritative account of the ways in which commercial information came to resonate with cultural meanings in the context of the Literary Revival, and will inspire Irish Studies scholars to think more fully about the connections between literary artefacts, print culture, visuality and economics. Fresh and compelling.'

- Claire Connolly, University College Cork, Ireland

"Anyone interested in the history or culture of Ireland in this period will find much to engage them in this thought-provoking volume." - CILIP Rare Books and Special Collections newsletter

• University of Northumbria at Newcastle, UK

  John Strachan, Claire Nally

JOHN STRACHAN is Professor of English Literature at the University of Northumbria, UK. His books include Advertising and Satirical Culture in the Romantic Period (2007) and, with Alison O'Malley-Younger, Ireland at War and Peace (2011). He is Associate Editor of the Oxford Companion to English Literature and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.
CLAIRE NALLY is Lecturer in Twentieth-Century English Literature at the University of Northumbria, UK. Her published work includes W.B. Yeats's Occult Nationalism (2009); Naked Exhibitionism: Gender, Performance and Public Exposure, edited with Angela Smith (2012); and W.B. Yeats's A Vision: Explications and Contexts, edited with Matthew Gibson and Neil Mann (2012).

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