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Dublin: 11 °C Wednesday 22 May, 2013

Irish ads of yore that we don’t mind at all

There are no ads on RTÉ today… but if there were, we wouldn’t be charmed if they were like these ones from the turn of the 19th century.

TODAY IS TRADITIONALLY an advertising-free one on our State broadcaster, in honour of the special day in it.

We’re not sure we would mind a few ads if they were along the lines of these gently persuasive ones from the turn of the 19th century. All are reproduced with kind permission from CCALIreland.com (Consumer Culture, Advertising and Literature in Ireland 1848-1921).

Click on any of the links above each image to see the ad in full-screen size.

For umbrellas (1898)…

johnstone_umbrellas

For ties which “are always acceptable as Gifts”. So now, Dad. (1904)

1904-tie-fitzgeralds

For fancy blouses… (1898)

1898-david_hanna_milliner

For “the Easiest Running Cycle ever Ridden” (1902)…

dublin_bicycle

For toys (1921)… Ask ‘Mammy’ to bring you here.

toys

For McDowell’s Rings (surely, the Happy Ring House of O’Connell Street fame, 1898)…

1898-mcdowell-rings

For gents’ toiletries (1892)…

1892_Goulding_Gents_Toiletries

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