Rare posters exhibition to tell story of Kilkenny auctioneers after 150 years
One of Kilkenny’s best-known auctioneering businesses, Sherry FitzGerald McCreery, is celebrating its 150th anniversary
Sherry FitzGerald McCreery on Parliament Street, Kilkenny, celebrated their 150th anniversary on Thursday.
McCreery Brothers began business on May 8, 1876. The above poster from 1918 was printed by Kilkenny People Printing Works, James's Street, Kilkenny in 1918.
Keith McCreery, who joined his father back in McCreery's last month, has a strong connection with it.
His grandfather, the late Ralph Kavanagh worked in the printing works.
Large posters used to advertise land sales in the late 1800s and in the first five decades of the 1900s were part advertising, part legal notice, and part theatre.
They weren’t just functional notices designed by craftsmen; they were produced to command attention, convey authority, and build anticipation of a farm sale; the giving of fishing rights or the purchase of farm animals and equipment.
The McCreery brothers, Alex and James, who founded this firm on May 8, 1876 were one the first to seize upon the importance of this form of advertising.
They were soon at the heart of the auctioneering world and reports on their sales appeared in the local papers of the time.
Whether it was selling manure for Kilkenny Corporation, handling grazing and meadowing rights for landowners; clearances of livestock, horses, ponies or donkeys or selling farms of all sizes, McCreery's achieved the best prices for their clients.
By 1896, the brothers were being entrusted with major sales including Greenville House, Kilmacow and many Kilkenny City businesses and holdings.
In 1897, McCreery Brothers had cemented their place in the auctioneering life of Kilkenny.
Alex conducted the sale of Borrismore House, Urlingford and 431 acres at Kilkenny Courthouse for the Land Commission on Saturday, April 24.
Posters were the main form of advertising with newspaper notices of the time telling people to see the posters for all the details.
Designed to catch the eye from a distance, they used bold, dramatic typography to draw people in. The layout was carefully structured: large headlines announced the event, while smaller text provided detailed descriptions of land, livestock, and terms of sale.
The design reflected urgency and importance. Land sales and farm equipment auctions were major community events, often tied to the wider story of land reform in Ireland.
As such, the posters needed to inspire confidence and authority, which they did through formal language and meticulous detail.
There was also a strong aesthetic quality. The balance of fonts, spacing, and, in later examples, the use of colour, demonstrated craftsmanship.
Printed using traditional letterpress methods, each poster carried a tactile richness and individuality like the above one from December 1918.
Willliam Fowler, Annalack, Goresbridge sold his entire operation with a level of detail which serves as a social history.
This and other posters will be on exhibition later in the year.