27 Aug Q. 1994. SQUARE PAPER EPHEMERA.
Koln/NYC: Michael Werner, 1994
2.5 x 2.5cm red square with a tiny Q in gold ink printed in the centre, Q standing for QUESTION. Unlimited multiple but now very hard to find. VG+.
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27 Aug Q. 1994. CIRCULAR PAPER EPHEMERA.
Koln/NYC: Michael Werner, 1994
1.6cm dia., red circle with a tiny Q in gold ink printed in the centre, Q standing for QUESTION. Unlimited multiple but now very hard to find.. VG+.
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26 Aug AN EARLY PICASSO. 1994.
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn, 1994
11.7 x 10.8cm, 4pp outer printed blue folder content of a 11.7 x 10.8cm, 4pp printed purple insert with a text poem by Finaly. The full title of the work is "AN EARLY PICASSO IN J.L. DAVID" below which is a text from revolutionary sources about how female citizens should dress for one of the major public festivals encouraged by the National Convention. The description is suggested by Finlay to be equivalent of a Picasso painting but 200 years beforehand.
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13 Aug SITUATIONS. 1994.
N.p. (Pittenweem): Cairn Gallery, 1994
14.8 x 10.5cm, 4pp (single sheet folded twice). An artist's card with a prose poem by Finlay:
A pond in the shape of a sailor's collar.
In the middle of the pond
floats a model warship, a
key protruding from one
of its funnels.
The handle of the key suggests a small summer cloud.
BR>
A visual poem created out of words - linking the toy boat to the elements around it.
Scarce. VG+ condition.
BR>...
09 Aug HOLLAND. 1994.
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1994
10.5 x 14.2cm, 2pp card designed by Michael Harvey under Finlay's instruction. A brick wall has the words
Holland
WINDMILLS
WATERWAYS
BICYCLES
BRICKS
The cliches of Holland are conjoined with Dutch brick which is (clear from its name) a regional brick which was used to create a different architectural look (and also for ballast in British boats), Dutch bond is also a style of laying bricks in which " the vertical joints of the stretchers in any course are in line with the centres of the first stretchers above and below." as here. VG+.
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09 Aug 1794. TOO MANY ALLEGATIONS TOO FEW EXAMPLES. 1994.
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1994
5cm, dia. printed plastic with metal safety pin clasp. A lapel badge with the title text on it in blue on white. Issued in the year of the European elections the slogan alludes to Saint-Just's "Fewer laws, more examples" but with a twist - the "allegations" referred to seem to relate to the libel of Finlay by Catherine Millet and others who accused Finlay of being anti-Semitic (which was absurd and deliberately based on untruths and lies) and the lack of examples being the lack of evidence. Limitation not known. VG+>
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05 Aug NOT WAVING…. 1994?
Little Sparta: WIld Hawthorn Press, n.d. (1994?)
5.5 x 11.5cm, 4pp artist's card with a drawing by Gary Hinks on the front of Loch Eck - the site of the sinking of the model Aeronaut Schwerer Kreuzer Prinz Eugen. With the model boat having sunk (on 23.6.94) the water shows no sign of the ship. The poem inside the card reads:
not waving
but drowning
not
shrinking
but sinking
a partial reworking of the famous Stevie mith. VG+. ...
02 Aug CHRISTIAN BOLTANSKI. BUCHER/DU UND DEINE WELT/GUTE NACHT. 1994.
Berlin: Wiens Laden &Verlag/Podewil-Kunst/Hotel Pension Nurnberger Eck, 1994
10.5 x 15cm, 2pp announcement card for an exhibition of books and two installations. VG+
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27 Jul LEMON. 1994.
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1994
11 x 14.2cm, 1pp card. A drawing of a lemon by Michael Harvey using architectural methods - as if on a blue print giving plans and body plans. Finlay often uses fruit to represent boats and the various parts of the fruit here are labelled as "aft" or fore". VG+.
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26 Jul CITRON BLUE. (AFTER A DETAIL IN A PAINTING BY WILLIAM GILLIES). 1994.
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d. (1994)
63 x 51 cm, blue on white offset lithograph displaying a boat in blue. The drawing by Gary Hincks and after a detail from a painting by WIlliam Gillies.
Yet another example of Finlay's intense interest in maritime affairs and the title reflects other works where the poet compares boats to lemons - even blue lemons.
As I write these words I can walk outside my back garden and see William Gillies's former house in Temple, Midlothian.
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17 Jul ECHOES SERIES. CROWN. 1994.
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1994
13.1 x 10cm, 8pp (concertina folded sheet). Three variants the first being Guillaume Apollinaire's calligramme in the shape of a crown and then two variants by Finlay and Stephen Bann. Finlay's when deconstructed reads "The carp enters who die one by one live on in the hearts of the Jacobins". VG+.
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13 Jul LIGHTS. 1994.
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d.(1994)
15 x 7.4cm, 12pp plus card covers . Internally there are four short lines, one per page:
the lights of Paimpol
the lights of Concarneau
the lights of Le Conquet
the lights of Roscoff
the lights of Quessant
the lights of Walston
shine in the rain
Finlay notes that Walston is a landlocked village on the hillside opposite the author's home.
All the other place names are French coastal communes where the nighttime lights would act as a welcome (and warming) beacon for returning boats. Finlay is suggesting his view of Walston is as welcoming. He dedicates the books to "Ailie". VG+.
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