Inside the cover of the 1934 Holly Bough

LAST year, a rarely seen 1932 copy of the Holly Bough was donated to Cork City Libraries.

Although the collection is far from complete, there are hardcopies as early as 1924 with more regularity in the collection from 1950 to the present.

These are also digitised and accessible to view on the Irish News Archive, available for free at your local library.

Following on from last year’s donation, I have unearthed two heretofore rarely seen copies of the Holly Bough from 1933 and, just in time for its 90th anniversary, 1934 on the microfilm reels of the Cork Weekly Examiner held in the Local Studies and Learning Department of the City Library at Grand Parade.

The Holly Bough was sold to the Examiner group from the Cork Constitution in 1933 and was incorporated into their rival Cork Weekly Examiner Christmas Number magazine.

It became known as the Cork Holly Bough Weekly Examiner Christmas Number from then until around 1970.

The cover of the 1934 edition has an illustration of little children gazing in anticipation up the chimney to a vaguely sinister-looking Santa Claus with ads for Howard Bros Mills, the makers of “The Genuine Oneway Wholemeal Flour”.

Their ads regularly adorned the cover from the early 1930s through to the late 1950s.

The “Principal Contents” page opens with a Christmas Blessing for 1934 from Reverand P Mackesy from Buttevant.

We can see from the contents list similarities to the Holly Bough today with a mixture of Cork and national human-interest articles and histories, stories, and poems with prizes in guineas for best in competition. Prizes are awarded also for the best cakes.

There are also sports features, puzzles, recipes, humour, and women’s features spread across 48 pages.

There is an abundance of ments from many of the leading Cork industries and companies.

Familiar names like Thompsons, Suttons, Dwyer’s, Mayne’s Moderne, and Matthews appear.

Beamish had a special stout at the time called Knuckleduster, promising to be “as good as an extra log on the fire”.

Cakes and plum puddings could be bought from Thompsons and Henry O’Shea & Sons Ltd.

Interestingly, electrical appliances are d at the ESB showrooms in these early days of the electrification supply in the State.

One is encouraged to give an electrical gift from washing machines to milk warmers.

We are promised “electrical gifts utilise a natural fuel” and will be “constructive of goodwill, health, and comfort”.

Columnists of the day, such as Michael Holland and Senex, write about topics such as the nostalgia of Christmas in Old Munster in the late 19th century when the yuletide period then had a more traditional and religious aspect — in comparison to the 1930s when the growing commercialism of Christmas was becoming more evident.

Piaras Beaslai goes back even earlier in time to see what an Irish Christmas was like in the 16th century.

Senex writes about Irish nationalist Lord Edward Fitzgerald’s time in Cork, where he would spend time in a cottage called “Jemmapes” located in Shanakiel near the reservoir.

Provincial meetings of the leaders of 1798 Rebellion were held here in this cottage.

Local historian DP Fitzgerald has short pieces about old Cork such as The Exchange on Castle St and the early days of Cork newspapers such as The Irish Monthly Mercury from 1650.

In the early 1800s, one of the earliest forms of public transport under municipal control were in the form of Sedan Chairs — where the carriers or “chairmen” would transport wealthier people in raised carriages around the city and suburbs.

Cock-fighting and bull baiting were among the sports enjoyed in the olden days, but more contemporary sports such as hurling and football are written about by Carbery in his article about winter sports in the South.

Factual articles range from the tragedy of the sinking of the “Hampshire” during the Great War, and the tales from Irish survivors is recounted by William Cashman, a retired warrant officer from Ballinacurra.

Travel writer John Gibbons writes about a Cork man he met in Algiers who ed the Foreign Legion, and John Mill Hill spends the Christmas period in the Holy Land. Added to this mix are plenty of short stories ranging from detective stories to an Irish-American romance along with puzzles and clues.

And so, the basic format of the Holly Bough remains the same to this day as it did in 1934.