Republic of Ireland Magazine Covers

Ireland Today ran for 22 issues from June 1936 until March 1938. It described itself as Social - Economic - National - Cultural. The cover was by Sean O'Sullivan RHA, one of the best known Irish painters and designers of his time. He was primarily known for his portrait painting but also designed book covers and stamps. His Ireland Today covers have a simple template that is used again and again. It features a phoenix with some modernist design. Very simple but stylish and effective. 

The Bell is probably the most legendary of Irish small literary magazines. Though how much of that is rose-tinted memory is open to debate. It was created in by Seán Ó Faoláin and ran for 123 issues until 1954. Mythic it might have been in content but not sadly in its covers, which as they say, did what they said on the tin, with variants of a text based design, displaying the contents to would-be readers. 

By 1945, the Bell's covers had improved to a kind of wallpaper-ish template design that was used on multiple issues. How it worked very much depended on the colours used. This issue is quite appealing whilst other colours covers are not quite so good. 

The Bell's covers had improved again by the 1950s and this template would be used frequently. Again, how it worked depended on the colours used. This issue's cover is one of the better ones. 

'Irish Writing' ran for 37 issues from 1946 until 1957. It had all the major literary players of the time. Marcus Smith, the founding editor, would essentially ask authors if they wanted to be in the first issue. Mostly he recieved positive replies, with the exception of a terse 'No' from George Bernard Shaw. The cover (by Gene Martin) is interesting in that it features an Ireland without a border (Smith was very sympathetic to a United Ireland) with contributor names. It works quite well and was used again as a template for the second issue. Strangely the author's names aren't near their birth place (which might have been a logical thing to do), with Myles na gCopaleen at the bottom of Ireland. 

The Irish Writing covers would go on to be quite eclectic in form and design. Number 25, the December 1953 issue, for instance, would feature a woodcut illustrating 'The Fourth Man' by Patricia Lynch. The cover was designed by Liam Miller, who would become a major figure in Irish book publishing and would go on to found Dolman Press. He had a very keen eye as the design of this cover indicates, the red perhaps indicating it was a December/Christmas issue. He was very interested in book design as an artform in itself, with the design of Kinsella's translation of The Tain featuring 130 Louis le Brocquy drawings considered to be perhaps his finest moment.

To show the variable nature of Irish Writing's covers we see issue 34 from 1956. This cover is also by Liam Miller and is very simplistic but at the same time really stylish and impressive and goes to show that a text based cover doesn't haven't to be incredibly dull.  

Nonplus (a great name for a magazine) ran for four issues from 1959 - 1960. Unusually for the time, it was edited by a woman, Patricia Murphy and published by Lee mIller's Dolman Press. The covers are quite minimalist but stylish, which I like. They varied a little but looked good throughout the magazine's short lifespan. 

The Kilkenny Magazine ran, on and off, for a decade between 1960 and 1970, running for 18 issues. This cover, by Christopher Fay, was by far, the most interesting one. The other were text heavy and not particularly interesting. 

The Lace Curtain ran for 6 issues, from 1969 - 1978, appearing rather irregularly. The title 'Lace Curtain' suggests a certain amount of transparancy, which is very much at odds with the cover of the first issue, which is very concrete, functional and it has to be said very dull. 

Running for six issues between 1970 and 1974 Atlantis had most of the heavy hitters in the Irish literary world within its pages. The cover is abstract and kind of works. They used them same template with differing colours. This issue, the 2nd and the purple 5th issue cover being the most effective.  

The Lace Curtain ran for six issues, irregularly from 1969 until 1978. This issue, the final one, was edited by Michael Smith. The cover isn't that memorable (though is much better than in the first issue) and is included as it features the work of Sean O'Sullivan again, in this instance a drawing of Thomas MacGreevy to accompany an article by Anthony Cronin. 

The Salmon, running for 24 issues always had interesting covers, some more striking and interesting that others, usually from local(ish) artists. This one, issue 4 from 1982, is by Anne Costello is quite effective. As it features only men, she may be possibly making a point of male domination of the art world. 

the Beau ran for three issues in the early 1980s. Included for the striking cover by Michael Mulcahy which certaintly draws attention. Perhaps less so Patrick Hall's piece on the back cover, which presumably was in colour was reproduced in black and white, which for abstract works, is always difficult to pull off. 

I'm not really sure how long Graph ran for. I think there were at least thirteen issues. It was edited by Michael Cronin, Barra O'Seaghdha, and Peter Sirr. I'm a big fan of Graph covers. The 1986 first issue cover has a very fanzine but at the same time academic/serious feel, which making use (I think) of early computer design programmes.  

Designed by 'Supersub', I would bet that there is definitely computer programmes used to design issue 8 of Graph from 1990, which made it stand out from the crowd then but curiously dates it somewhat now perhaps. Though I stll really approve of it! 

Krino was created by Gerald Dawe and lasted for 18 issues from 1986 to 1995. This is issue 3 from 1987. Included as there wasn't many (or any) Irish literary mags that had Marilyn Monroe on the cover. The Krino title font/drawing is great though the rest of the design is a little timid.

Metre was a magazine of poetry that ran for seventeen issues from 1995 to 2005. It kept, with occasional variance the same cover template throughout its existence. Designed by Jarlath Hayes and Susan Wayne it was a simple but elegant creation, which worked very well. 

The SHOp was a greatly respected magazine, created by John and Hilary Wakeman and running from 1999 - to 2014. It's covers were very eclectic, using local artists and the occasional famous one. The cover of the first issue was by Janet Mullarney and there was art throughout the issue. 

An example of The SHOp's varied covers. Here we have a photo of Samuel Beckett by John Minihan, who produced many of the iconic photos of him.