Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 19975
3.5cm, dia. copper and brass plated aluminium medallion with chain. With a design by Ron Costley (which originally was created for the exhibition Heroic Emblems) of an aircraft carrier with a plane taking off from the deck. The original drawing relates to the USS Enterprise at the battle of Midway where the Japanese fleet was destroyed by the Americans. Finlay sees the aircraft carrier as typifying the classical elements of air, earth, sky, water and fire.
All of the Heroic Emblems showed modern machines (mostly of war) in reference to Classical myths. With original box and 14.5 x 14.5cm, 1pp (folded twice) leaflet with a commentary by Stephen Bann. Edition size not known but very hard to find.

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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d. (1975)
14.8 x 14.8cm., green on white ceramic tile with the names of five boat names (and their registered harbours). A fore-and-aft rig is a sailing vessel rigged mainly with sails set along the line of the keel. The names are all optimistic and the typography reflects the shape of the vessels. The title is alliterative around the letter F. One of only 100 made. Scare. VG+.

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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d. (1975)
15 x 15cm, red and dark red on white ceramic tile with one of Finlay's Heroic Emblems on it. The text "A CELEBRATION OF EARTH AIR FIRE WATER" refers to the role of aircraft carriers during the defining sea battle of the War in the Pacific when the USA destroyed the Japanese fleet. The image of an aircraft carrier with airplanes taking off is an image of a weapon that floats on water, fires missiles, lets its panes go into the air and land on its decks (earth). EARTH, AIR, FIRE, and WATER were believed by classical philosophers to be the fundamental building blocks of nature. This example is unique - a trial print made for Finlay by Kenneth Townsend a specialist in tiles making based in Hastings - Finlay rejected the tile and preferred to release a single brown on white coloured version in an edition of c. 100.

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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d. (1975)
14.8 dia., red on white ceramic tile with one of the Heroic Emblems on it. The text "THROUGH A DARK WOOD. MIDWAY." refers to the defining sea battle of the War in the Pacific when the USA destroyed the Japanese fleet. The image of an aircraft carrier hidden in smoke to prevent air attacks is associated with Dante's opening words from the Inferno "In the middle of our life's journey, I found myself in a dark wood.”. The image on this circular tile is the same as that on the square tile issued at the same time and while the limitation not known for some reason this is a much rare version of the ceramic than the square one.

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Reno: Wild Coast Poetry Review, 1975
29 x 29cm, 56pp plus pictorial card covers. Artist's book published on the occasion of an exhibition in North Wales with numerous b/w photographs by Dave Paterson of works and views of Little Sparta with commentaries by Bernard Lassus and Stephen Bann in English and German. VG+.

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Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1975
11.7 x 13.5cm, 4pp. The front of the card has a poem under the title:

Lily has grown
a full stop.
Iris has not<BR
On the back of the card is a photograph by Dave Paterson of a small wooden sculpture by Finlay called "Lily" and the poem is an adaption of a Cutt's poem FAMILY which we believe to be about the latter's children but cannot confirm. Finlay's mild parody references the photograph where an additional floating "leaf" appears to have been attached to the sculpture by wire - almost as if it has grown -the shape of the leaf, is like the round full stop. VG+.

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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d. (1975)
14.8 x 14.8.cm, red on white ceramic tile with one of the Heroic Emblems on it. The text "THROUGH A DARK WOOD. MIDWAY." refers to the defining sea battle of the War in the Pacific when the USA destroyed the Japanese fleet. The image of an aircraft carrier hidden in smoke to prevent air attacks is associated with Dante's opening words from the Inferno "In the middle of our life's journey, I found myself in a dark wood.”. One of only 100 made. Very scarce object multiple.

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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d. (1975)
15.3 x 15.3cm., purple on white ceramic tile with a design after a drawing by Laurie Clark representing the American and Japanese Fleets during the battle of Midway as bees and hives. The American fleet destroyed most of the ships while the Japanese airplanes were in air and the latter had nowhere to land after launching. The various hives (with the names of the ships) can be seen to be on fire. The vast distance between the ships meant that they never saw each other - and the intervening rosebushes obscuring the hives from each other act as a metaphor for the distance. One of only 100 made. VG+....

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1975
4.5 x 11cm, 4pp. Black on light brown card with a drawing of ketch boats on the front by what looks like Gary Hincks but is uncredited. Inside is the two line poem:

HOMAGE TO THE L. A. DOUST ART MANUALS
s ketch

The art manuals were a popular adult and child series of books which were meant to teach drawing skills. Finlay uses the front cover drawing as a icon for that activity and makes a joke by adding the s to the name of the boats to make "sketch.VG+.

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Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1975
16.5 x 13.5cm, 4pp. A b/w photograph of a model airplane made by Finlay has alternative sides of the plane painted in different colours. The homage of Jean Gris the cubist brings to mind his painting of a Pierrot where alternative sides of the actor's clothing are different colours (presumably in part by patching - a symbolism of love for Finlay). Photograph by Dave Paterson. VG+.

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N.p.: FIU, 1976
11.7 x 17cm, 2pp artist postcard showing a b/w image of Beuys' Tramstop installation at Venice at the Biennale in 1975 (the photograph taken by Caroline Tisdale). Verso details of the image and a standard postcard design. This card is signed by Beuys in red ink on the front. VG+. ...

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1975
15 x 10.5cm, 2pp. A drawing by Gary Hincks of the deck of an aircraft carrier is labelled with the Greek and the English quotation - the divided meadows of Aphrodite. As discussed elsewhere on this site (a blanket in the object multiples section) this does not only reference the verdant landscapes of the classical Greerk gods but also is a sexual metaphor for the goddess' labia. The drawing shows the red path where the planes take off and land on - which is clearly a visual reference to the vaginal opening. VG+

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