Cover: Cludach

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We continue our presentation, on the covers of New Hibernia Review's tenth volume, of stamps issued by An Post during the middle decades of the twentieth century. The cover for this Summer, 2006, issue presents the 2½d version in deep green of the 1953 stamp issued on the occasion of the first An Tóstal celebration; a 1s 4d denomination in blue was issued simultaneously.

The 1953 An Tóstal, or "Ireland at Home" festival, was the first of six annual nationwide series of events celebrating Irish life and culture. Originally proposed by Juan Trippe, the president of Pan-American Airlines, and embraced by Irish tourism authorities, An Tóstal was officially launched by President Seán T. Ó Ceallaigh on Easter Sunday, 1953. Somewhat analogous the Festival of Britain of 1951, An Tóstal marked Ireland's first systematic attempt to enter the international tourism market, though the organizers believed that its appeal would chiefly be to the Irish of the diaspora. The stress on Ireland as a place to return to no doubt arose in part out of national unease about continued wide-scale emigration from Ireland in the 1950s. The year of this stamp, for instance, also saw the publication of Fr. John O'Brien's alarmed analysis of Irish demography, The Vanishing Irish.

The official logotype, seen on this stamp, features an iconic harp in a modern, almost art deco styling—an image that announces one of the enduring themes of Irish tourism promotion, the melding of tradition and modernity. The logo was actually created by the Dutch designer Guss Melai, a fact kept secret by the organizers.

The first An Tóstal drew few visitors (in part because of unusually cold and wet weather) and subsequent festivals failed to draw the hoped-for response. The project was abandoned after 1958. Though the An Tóstal events are usually reckoned a failure, the events nevertheless proved crucial in defining a touristic representation of Irish history and culture, and helped to create a greater aesthetic appreciation of the Irish landscape. A much smaller event of the same name survives today only in Drunshanbo, County Leitrim.

In selecting this example for our cover, we are grateful for the kind assistance of James H. Marrinan of St. Paul, an appraiser and specialist in Irish philately and numismatics. We also thank Dr. Eric G. E. Zuelow, author of a 2004 dissertation at the University of Wisconsin, "The Tourism Nexus: Tourism and National Identity Since the Irish Civil War," who helpfully assisted in composing this note. The image appears here by kind permission of An Post ©.