The Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI) is delighted to announce that An Post Museum and Archive has published its latest collection on the Repository – the ‘Post early for Christmas posters’ collection.
This collection features twenty-two vintage advertising posters dating from 1956 to 1978 encouraging the public to ‘post early for Christmas’. Posters featured essential information about the latest posting dates to ensure delivery before Christmas, wrapped up in eye-catching designs. The posters were published in both English and Irish and gradually evolved from a simple design aesthetic to more ambitious and sophisticated graphics reflecting the spirit of their time, as seen in the examples below from the 1950s and 1960s. In later years, information about Christmas posting dates continued to be provided by post offices but as simple typed pages, instead of the attractive poster designs of earlier decades.
Image: An Post, The Post Office, & Department of Posts and Telegraphs. (1956) Post early for Christmas poster, Digital Repository of Ireland [Distributor], An Post Museum and Archive [Depositing Institution], https://doi.org/10.7486/DRI.9w03ft08x
Image: An Post, The Post Office, & Department of Posts & Telegraphs. (1966) Post early for Christmas poster, Digital Repository of Ireland [Distributor], An Post Museum and Archive [Depositing Institution], https://doi.org/10.7486/DRI.dv14cj30q
Stephen Ferguson, assistant secretary and museum curator at An Post, highlighted one of his favourite designs, stating:
I particularly like the 1976 poster, which is the work of the Dutch graphic artist Piet Sluis. He cleverly manages to include so many elements in his design – the new Post Office logo, a stamp doubling up as a sail and a bird that bravely flies through the clouds of wind and rain with a letter in its beak!
Image: An Post, The Post Office, & Department of Posts & Telegraphs. (1976) Post early for Christmas poster, Digital Repository of Ireland [Distributor], An Post Museum and Archive [Depositing Institution], https://doi.org/10.7486/DRI.gf06vs742
The posters in this collection provide a fascinating insight into Irish design and Ireland’s postal history. Discover more by exploring the ‘Post early for Christmas posters’ collection here: https://doi.org/10.7486/DRI.1z410h87g
An Post Museum and Archive also published the ‘Post Office Irish Postage Stamp Collection’ earlier in the year. This collection features an extensive range of stamps reflecting the development of the country, both historic and artistic, over the century since Irish independence and can be explored here: https://doi.org/10.7486/DRI.p841pb88f
