Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1961
13 x 19cm, 40pp with dustjacket - inserted ins a 4pp introduction by Ed Dorn. The illustrations are by Waleter Miller. The first Wild Hawthorne Press publication - a notable collection of poems by Neidecker. One of only 250 copies printed. Murray 1.1.
The title poem is thus:
My friend tree
I sawed you down
but I must attend
an older friend
the sun
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Ventura: Migrant Press, 1960 27 x 21cm, 3pp (two stapled sheets top left), mimeographed. A 2pp text in English about Finlay's poetry (which is not overwhelmingly positive) distributed by the Press who published the poet's first book. The second sheet is a promotional leaflet for "The Dancers Inherit the Party" which a short biographical text about Finlay and promoting "The Seabed and Other Stories" published by the Alna Press. There is also a short bio for the illustrator Zeljko Kujundzie. Both sheets with some browning to the paper but else VG+. Rare early document. ...
Edinburgh: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d. (1960?) 33 x 21cm, 1pp mimeograph with a text announcing the Wild Hawthorn Press based at this time in Fettes Row Edinburgh. Some quotes by other writers such as Edwin Morgan, Robert Duncan and Hugh Kenner on Finlay's poetry and mention of 'My Friend The Tree' by Lorine Niedecker (published in 1961) and 'Whistling in the Dark' by Finlay, 'Poems and Verses' by Robert Garloch and 'A Very Particular Hill' by Gael Turnbull. The Finlay and Garloch were not published by the Press unless Finlay changed the name of his own collection? The leaflet appears to have been distributed by Migrant Press along with copies of Finlay's second book 'The Dancers Inherit the Party' and to clients. Paper damage to top left and bottom corners and a brown stain on the left. Previously folded but this is a very rare early piee of ephemera relating to the Press. ...
Worchester and Ventura: Migrant Press, 1960
21.5 x 18cm, 36pp. Original red on orange wrappers. First edition of this Finlay's second book of poems - traditional in format mostly and usually in Scots/Doric. This has lino-cut illustrations by Zeljko Kujundzik. Scarce true first edition.
JOINT:
A NOTE ON FINLAY'S THE DANCER'S INHERIT THE PARTY BY MICHEAL SHAYER
Worchester and Ventura: Migrant Press, Autumn 1960
30 x 21cm, 4pp mimeograph short essay on Finlay's book along with a promotional leaflet for the book. Some browning and folded to be inserted in the book else VG. Rare.
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42 x 30cm, 1pp b/w xerox copy of the original short story found in the Glasgow Herald in 1958. This was one of Finlay's first published works (along with others in the same newspaper). At this time the Glasgow Herald was a regional newspaper and carried prose and poetry in its pages. Finlay's short story is of meeting a young boy near the sea edge and asking him to solve a riddle. The boy cannot despite several clues - which are all metaphors - and gives up. At the end the boy is excited to see a fishing boat come in and without the answer being given the riddle is solved for us. Excellent and with many themes of later work to come included. It is near impossible to find a copy of this specific newspaper now because even the large suppliers of past issues did not cover regional papers.
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Edinburgh: Castle Wynd Printers Ltd, 1958
22 x 14cm, 48pp. Boards and printed dust jacket. This was Finlay's first book of stories and poetry illustrated by Zeijko Kundzic - eight blue and red linocuts. As with much of Finlay's earliest work the subject matter is the sea, landscape, the weather, the communities built around that environment and the fish and animals that live alongside humans as well as the myths that arise. There is also the tale of applying for "National Assistance Money" because of the poverty that often came with the crofting/fishing lifestyle.
This copy is in exceptionally good condition with a complete uncut dustjacket. ...
30 x 42cm, 1pp b/w xerox copy of the original short story found in the Glasgow Herald in 1955. This was one of Finlay's first published works (along with others in the same newspaper). At this time the Glasgow Herald was a regional newspaper and carried prose and poetry in its pages. Finlay's short story is set in a bakers where the serving girl and a young man discuss the loss of Christmas innocence as adults (19 and 22!) and Finlay compares them to an "old man and woman smiling at a remote memory across the hearth".
It is near impossible to find a copy of this specific newspaper now because even the large suppliers of past issues did not cover regional papers.
...
42 x 30cm, 1pp b/w xerox copy of the original short story found in the Glasgow Herald in 1955. This was one of Finlay's first published works (along with others in the same newspaper). At this time the Glasgow Herald was a regional newspaper and carried prose and poetry in its pages. Finlay's short story is of a manual road worker telling his subordinate to go and get grapes for him from the hut half a mile away. After several trips they go back together and the navvy shows the younger man that he wanted 'digging' grapes not 'eating' grapes, the difference being severe. The pub enjoys the story but the description of the different workers in the tavern is the real point of this story.
It is interesting that Finlay's story turns on the difference that the pronouns "digging: vs "eating" make to the noun grapes. Many of Finlay's later poetic works use that device to create subtle and not-subtle changes to meaning and the poetic images conjured up.
It is near impossible to find a copy of this specific newspaper now because even the large suppliers of past issues did not cover regional papers.
...
30 x 42cm, 1pp b/w xerox copy of the original short story found in the Glasgow Herald in 1955. This was one of Finlay's first published works (along with others in the same newspaper). At this time the Glasgow Herald was a regional newspaper and carried prose and poetry in its pages. Finlay's short story is quite long and concerns a near accident amongst a group of potato pickers in a field which really is a study in class attitudes and relationships.
It is near impossible to find a copy of this specific newspaper now because even the large suppliers of past issues did not cover regional papers.
...
30 x 42cm, 1pp b/w xerox copy of the original short story found in the Glasgow Herald in 1955. This was one of Finlay's first published works (along with others in the same newspaper). At this time the Glasgow Herald was a regional newspaper and carried prose and poetry in its pages. Finlay's short story is told from the perspective of a young child from a middle class family who has a maid. The maid is first courted by a young man (who the child is slightly jealous of) and then the engagement called off with the maid left upset but the child is happy he can get her to draw faces for him again at night. Finlay did come from such a background in the Bahamas but his father lost the family money in a poor investment and Finlay returned to Scotland.
It is near impossible to find a copy of this specific newspaper now because even the large suppliers of past issues did not cover regional papers.
...
42 x 30cm, 1pp b/w xerox copy of the original short story found in the Glasgow Herald in 1958. This was one of Finlay's first published works (along with others in the same newspaper). At this time the Glasgow Herald was a regional newspaper and carried prose and poetry in its pages. Finlay's short story tells the tale of a middle class doctor visiting an older woman in her house after she has had a heart issue. The doctor is surprised by things he sees (a baby pig being nursed in a drawer is one) and how clean everything is. He warns the wife not to get up on any account and sits the shepherd down to tell him the same of his wife before leaving. The final scene is the shepherd calling on his wife to get up and make dinner.
Finlay was a shepherd for a while in Orkney.
It is near impossible to find a copy of this specific newspaper now because even the large suppliers of past issues did not cover regional papers.
...