FOR MONEY ORDERS AND PASSAGE TICKETS To and from all parts of Ireland, England, Scotland and Whales GO TO THE Charlestown Steamship Office and Catholic Book Store.
Charlestown, Massachusetts: c. 1890s. Double-sided printed cardstock measuring 5 ¾ x 3 ¼ inches. Some small stains and manuscript pencil markings. Excellent. Item #List3882 A card advertising Martin J. Roche’s Steamship Office and Catholic Book Store in the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston, likely from the early 1890s. Roche was a steamship agent in Boston from about 1885 on, advertising steamship travel especially from Ireland in Catholic newspapers like the Sacred Heart Review, in which he also authored a recurring column titled “Our Irish Letter.”[1] The card notes that Roche is also an “Agent for ‘S.H. Review’.” Newspaper advertisements indicate that he opened the Catholic bookstore aspect of his business in about 1891; the card advertises “Irish Song Books, Histories, and Story Books of all kinds; also Prayer Books, Rosaries, Scapulars, Statues, etc., at the lowest prices”. At the time—subsequent to the wave of Irish immigration during the famine—most Irish immigrants were young unmarried women. Many settled in the Boston area. [1] The Sacred Heart Review 1, no. 14 (April 6 1895), 21.
Price: $200.00