20 Oct

Posted at 16:04h in Letters + Documents

Little Sparta: Finlay, n.d. (c. 1982)
Standard hand addressed DL manilla postal envelope to Harry Warschauer. Notable for the black rubber stamp impression added by Finlay to the front: "STRATHCLYDE REGION FOR NACHT-UND-NEBEL" and also a 3 x 2cm, b/w cinderella postal stamp designed by Finlay with an image of Joseph Stalin with the words "Strathclyde region" above and below and a fictitious price of 15p. Return address stamping on back. Slightly roughly opened. Interestingly the postal service has cancelled the cinderella stamps as well as the authentic stamp.

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16 Oct

Posted at 16:36h in Letters + Documents

25 x 20cm, original TLS on Little Sparta stationery dated 16.10.82.
A letter sent by Ian Hamilton Finlay to "Harry" - presumably Harry Warschamer - telling the latter about the Warrant Sale planned at Little Sparta by Strathclyde Region to recoup their claimed rates on November 2nd 1982.
The letter asks for Warschamer to come and "bring others if you can" presumably to help resist the sale.
The letter also tells of the first "ALL-LATIN, ALL ROMAN LETTERING DEMO" by the Saint-Just Vigilanties outside the Scottish Arts Council HQ on October 19th.
Finlay also claims that all of his calls are "being monitored by the Special Branch" and "by Wednesday we may all be in prIson."
The letter is signed in blue ink "Ian".
The letterhead here is worth notice; it has at the bottom the motto: "SPARTA LONGA, LETTUCE BREVIS" which roughly is "Sparta is long, lettuce is short". Finlay's farm was called "Little Sparta".

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14 Oct

Posted at 09:14h in Joseph Beuys Postcards

Berlin: Vergolderei Kunsthandlung Silvia Menzel, 1982
15 x 10.5cm, 4pp - reflective gold on white announcement card for the edition and sculptural work by Beuys. This card is signed over the double leaf outside in pencil by Beuys. VG+.

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09 Oct

Posted at 16:16h in Letters + Documents

25 x 20cm, original carbon copy on typing paper dated 9.10.82.
A letter sent by Ian Hamilton Finlay to the "Minister of the Arts" asking the latter to intervene in the ongoing dispute over the rating of Finlay's "Temple" building. That request however characteristically is not a polite one - Finlay refers to the Chairman of the Strathclyde Regional Finance Committee as a "Lollygarch" and after some verbal insults tells the Minister in uncertain terms that they should "remind Strathclyde Region that there is such a thing as law.". He then adds further insult to insult by writing" I would write to you in more moderate tones if you had ever shown the SLIGHEST (sic) CAPACITY to respond to a serious thought" following which Finlay then jokes that the mistake was the typewriter's - "fame has gone to its head"!
The P.S. is of interest also - Finlay describes his idea of a "civilised country" - little girls playing Mozart behind trees being high on his list it seems.
Signed in blue ink "Ian". This was a copy sent to a friend for reasons of disseminating information.

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26 Sep

Posted at 19:19h in Letters + Documents

Little Sparta: Finlay, 26th September, 1982 30 x 21cm, 1pp original carbon copy on typing paper.
A copy of a letter sent by Finlay to the Chairman of the Scottish Arts Council.
The letter thanks him sarcastically for a letter of "three sentences (one of them three words long)"
Like all barbarians , you are unable to see that there is a difference between using words and using language.
For too long we have hung on your words, expecting language.
Now you should be hung on your words, to save language.
Words may produce the arrestment of my work but they will never rise to language in a mind such as yours.
Mors consilio artium.
The latin translates to "Death to the Arts Council".
This copy of the original letter is signed by hand in red ink.

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25 Sep

Posted at 13:03h in Letters + Documents

25 x 20cm, original carbon copy on typing paper. A letter sent by Susan Finlay (Ian Hamilton Finlay's then wife) to Councillor Logan who was then the Chairman of the Scottish Arts Council Art Committee. The letter is combative in tone - Sue Finlay was responding in anger to a letter sent from the Arts Council to Finlay in which the Arts Council refused to help the poet in his dispute with the Strathclyde Regional Council. We do not know exactly the year of this letter but we guess it to be c. 1982. This copy is signed at the bottom of the letter in red ink by Sue Finlay and probably sent to a supporter of the Finlay's campaign for information (as was their want in these days of pre-internet).

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21 Sep

Posted at 13:25h in Letters + Documents

25 x 20cm, original carbon copy on typing paper dated 21.9.82.
A letter sent by Ian Hamilton Finlay to the Strathclyde Region Sheriff officer relying to a letter from the Sheriff Officer of the previous day.
Finlay was threatened with a forced sale of assets as Strathclyde Regional Council had argued that because he was using the barn on his property as an art gallery, he would be liable to pay higher rates. Finlay in turn claimed the space was a "temple" and hence fell under legislation for religious buildings. Here Finlay informs the Sheriff that he feels the Region has not allowed any discussion and that due process has not really been followed. Yet he also says "I know it is not your professional responsibility to discuss these matters" so one is tempted to read the letter as an opening salvo in a PR battle.
This copy is hand corrected in blue ink by Finlay and is also signed at the bottom in ink - and there is a further not for the friend to whom he sent the copy: "Good wishes; we missed your peaceful visit - Ian" again in blue ink.

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19 Sep

Posted at 16:55h in Monographs & Essays

San Francisco North Point Press, 1982
22.5 x 15cm, 186pp plus card covers. First edition of this Jonathan Williams' selected essays on poet which include Charles Olson, Mina Loy, Lorine Neidecker, Bucky Fuller, Lyle Borge, Aaron Siskind and Ian Hamilton Finlay "Being a wee introduction to the Scot's Poet". VG+.

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09 Sep

Posted at 19:52h in Joseph Beuys Postcards

Gelsenkirchen: FIU, 1982
10.5 x 15cm, 2pp adhesive sticker printed green on white with the demand in German: "CITY FOREST INSTEAD OF CITY ADMINISTRATION" - an economic demand to make the state more environmentally aware. This sticker is printed on the back strip with the FIU's details - the backing has not been removed. On the front Beuys has signed the sticker very boldly in black felt tipped pen. VG+.

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