1964 - Unoriginal Sins

23 Jun FLEECE. 1964. THE SIXTH PUBLICATION OF THE PRESS.

Posted at 22:56h in Wild Hawthorn Press

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1964
58 x 46cm, two colour silkscreen on thin paper. The word FLEECE is surrounded by words made up of the last four letters of the word but transposed into new combinations (ECCE/CEEC/ECEC/CECE) much like a covering (a fleece). The colour patterns also create a cross in the middle of the paper - hence along with ECCE (trans. BEHOLD), and the metaphor of sheep which is often used by christians this gives this work a strong religious flavour. The design was by Alister Cant on Bann's instruction. Very good condition. Murray has this as 1.6.

...

18 Jun CANAL STRIPE SERIES 4. 1964.

Posted at 14:33h in Artist's Books

Edinburgh: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1964
17.5 x 28cm, 16pp. Original wrappers and yellow typographic dustjacket. The second of a number of artist's books using the "Canal Stripe" title - the text internally is printed near the bottom of each page. The text reads "little fields/long horizons" and "little fields long for horizons" and "horizons long for little fields". The movement of the word order changes the meaning of each phrase in turn - the first is a statement of a landscape, the second suggests that there is an emotional desire by the little fields to have horizons (presumably they are too small to be able to create a horizon) and finally the joke "horizons long (all horizons are long after all) for small fields" indicates the geographical relationship between these elements of the world. This is again a favourite Finlay method - word order altering the world view around the viewer. This was the first time this was published in a printed item.

...

18 May CIDADE. CITY. CITY. 1964.

Posted at 16:04h in Wild Hawthorn Press

Edinburgh: Wild Hawthorn, 1964
20.1 x 24.5cm, 4pp. Single sheet with de Campos' text in Brazilian and English. A folded broadside featuring a concrete poem of words arranged on a single line without spacing that begin on the front page but ends on the last with the words "CIDADE. CITY. CITY". The fith publication by Finlay's Press and part of the poet's introduction of the South American concrete poets to the English speaking world. VG+

...

25 Apr POSTER/POEM (LE CIRCUS!!) 1964. THE FOURTH EVER PRINT FROM THE WILD HAWTHORN PRESS.

Posted at 21:10h in Prints + Posters

Edinburgh: Wild Hawthorn Press 1964
43.2 × 56cm, blue, orange and black silkscreen on paper. One of the earliest and also most important of poster poems by Finlay. A concrete poem and word landscape.
le circus!! is presumably the name of the boat which is equipped with a green and a red blinker on each side. It has the number K47.
The ship is fully manned but also has corks, nets and the usual fishing tools.
There is a phrase which says "they leap BARE-BACK through the rainbow's hoop" - which one might presume refers to fish but it seems also to be applicable to the boat.
The whole paints a picture in words but also from the layout of the sections one can see how the various elements relate to each other in this snapshot of a fishing trip. But the whole scene is also an entertainment such as one might find in the circus with some of the language used reminding the reader of horses and horsemanship.
An extremely difficult to find print this example has pin holes and some stains in margins. Some prints were sometimes pinned up on walls during poetry readings and then recovered for reuse later - this is one such print. Murray has this as 5.4.

...

15 Apr POTH (POOR OLD TIRED HORSE) NR 12. 1964.

Posted at 13:32h in Poor Old Tired Horse + Broadsides

Edinburgh; Wild Hawthorne Press, 1964
26 x 21cm, 4pp + 1pp insert. The twelfth number of Finlay’s poetry publication with contributions by Jeffrey Steele, Paul de Vree, Mary Ellen Solt, Edwin Morgan, Dom Sylvester Houédard, J.F. Hendry, Ian Hamilton Finlay, Ernst Jandl and Lewis Carrol. By this number it was clear that POTH was mostly dedicated to the visual poetry movement and all contributions here display strong visual elements. VG+ condition
INSERT:
26 x 21cm, 1pp. "International avant-garde publications form" - items available for sale from Wild Hawthorne Press. Notes that "My Friend tree, 16 Once Published, Glasgow Beast, Concertina, Standing Poem" are out of sale." VG.

...

18 Mar CANAL STRIPE SERIES 3. 1964.

Posted at 14:04h in Artist's Books

Edinburgh: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1964
15 x 20cm, 32pp. Original wrappers and typographic dustjacket. The first of a number of artist's books using the "Canal Stripe" title (there presumably were others that were not published given the first is number 3. Each of the first eleven pages have one word printed on them - the first four words are hayboat, cathedral, housemill, windstack and then followed by haymill, cathedral, housestack, windboat, and then, haystack, cathedral, houseboat. A final double page has haystack, cathedral, houseboat, windmill.
The first thing to note is the placing of the words on the page are in a continuous line much like a straight canal waterway. The one word that does not change is Cathedral - a large land based landmark - but the other three works are constructed by moving the prefixes "hay", "house" and wind" around in front of the word endings "stack", "boat" and "mill".
The word change creates new hybrid scenes - the houseboat passes the housemill and cathedral, the boat becomes a windboat in a second scene and so on. Finlay uses this trick often in poetry and concrete works - the slightest change to a letter or a word entirely changes the meaning of the text. The signifier to signified relationship is disrupted by the most minor of alterations.

...

01 Jan POTH (POOR OLD TIRED HORSE) NR 11. 1964. WITH “OPENINGS” INSERT.

Posted at 13:14h in Poor Old Tired Horse + Broadsides

Edinburgh; Wild Hawthorne Press, 1964
26 x 21cm, 4pp. The eleventh number of Finlay’s poetry publication with each page a reproduced design by John Picking. POTH was here printed for the first time in two colours - blue and yellow. This number is designated as the "Lollipop Number" - and the shape of a lollipop is a re-occurring motif in the drawings. The contributions are by Apollinaire, J.F. Hendry, Horace, Renzo Laurano, Ann McGarrell, Christian Morgenstern, John Picking, Michael Shayer, Kurt Sigel and Robert Simmons.
INSERTED:
OPENINGS.
2 x 15cm, 4pp. Folded single sheet. Promotional leaflet for John Furnival's Openings Press with contact details being for Furnival but also Dom Pierre Houedard (dsh). VG.

...