25 x 20cm, original carbon copy on typing paper dated 9.10.82.
A letter sent by Ian Hamilton Finlay to the Scottish poet Alan Bold in which Finlay adds a postscript to an earlier letter - Bold had written publicly that "Scotland is not Strathclyde Region or any of the other bureaucracies...
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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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 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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Little Sparta: Finlay, 1982
Standard hand addressed DL manilla postal envelope to Harry Warschauer franked 22 September 1982. Notable for the red rubber stamp impression added by Finlay to the front: "STRATHCLYDE - THE INFERNAL REGION". Return address stamping on back. Slightly roughly opened.
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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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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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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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Heidelberg: Edition Staeck, 1982
15 x 10.5cm, 2pp. Original postcard edition by Beuys issued as part of the "Originalgrafik - Series D" from The Morning series from a photograph taken by Staeck/Steidt. Ref: Werkverzeichnis Multiple Schellmann P50. Signed by Beuys in red felt tipped pen. VG+.
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Heidelberg: Edition Staeck, 1982
15 x 10.5cm, 2pp. Original postcard edition by Beuys issued as part of the "Originalgrafik - Series D" from The Morning series from a photograph taken by Staeck/Steidt. Ref: Werkverzeichnis Multiple Schellmann P50. Signed by Beuys in black felt tipped pen. VG+.
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Heidelberg: Edition Staeck, 1982
15 x 10.5cm, 2pp. Original postcard edition by Beuys issued as part of the "Originalgrafik - Series D" from The Morning series from a photograph taken by Staeck/Steidt. Ref: Werkverzeichnis Multiple Schellmann P49. Signed by Beuys in red felt tipped pen. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d. (c. 1982)
30.5 × 43.2m, red on white offset lithograph. This is one of four which carry ant-Arts Council messages in Latin. This poster print has " CONCILIUM ARTIUM DELENDUM EST" which roughly translates into "The Arts Council Must be Utterly Destroyed" although there are some liberties taken in the language by Finlay.
Printed as part of Finlay's campaign against the muribund Scottish Arts Council and Strathclyde Region over a Rates dispute, these lithographs were fly-posted on the Scottish National Gallery, the Scottish Arts Council building and other places in Edinburgh by supporters of Finlay (called the Saint-Just Vigilantes).
Apparently ‘The Arts Council Must be Utterly Destroyed’ is derived from a phrase Cato would add to the end of every speech as a reference to his hatred of Carthage.
This lithograph is folded but all copies are rare as many were used as campaign posters on the buildings as described above. Apparently the typography was by Nicholas Sloan.
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