Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1997
14.8 x 10cm, single folded sheet to create a 4pp card with a drawing by Gary Hincks of a model boat, Inside Finlay describes a model sailboat on chair, propped amongst cushions with a tape-machine playing the sound of wind, rain and ocean waves. The "event" is a conceptual sailing. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1997 18.4 x 18cm folded printed card folder content of a folded sheet which opens to 36 x 17.5cm, the inner folding is a drawing after a sculpture which is explained thus: A circular post cast in bronze, with plain and rusticated bands alternating, the latter following three of the four types of rustication illustrated in Sebastiano Serlio's Five Books of Architecture: At the top of the post, in raised Roman letters, are the words AGE QUOD AGIS - What you are doing, do thoroughly. The post is designed for a private garden in Provence. VG+. ...
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1997
10.5 x 9.5cm, 4pp card with a detail of a painting by Steer and internally a poem by Finlay:
W. Steer at Walberswick
Tucking into
knickers
imperishable
petticoat
froth
The reference painting here is Philip Wilson Steer's "The Beach at Walberswick". The British impressionist often concentrated on the people on the beach rather than the landscape per se as with other painters in that movement. Finlay notes the dresses of the women on the beach and compares their petticoat frills to the foam found at the sea edge. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1997
10.5 x 19.1cm, 2pp card with a reproduced painting by Janet Boulton of a long thorn branch. The title of the work is the name of a type of French fishing boat that strung long trails of hooks after them as a means of increasing the take of the trip, VG+.
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Brussels: Galerie Bortier 1997
10.5 x 15cm,2pp artist postcard with a full colour photograph of a bowl of lemons with toy cars (Citroens) added. A take on Broodthaers' original correspondence work (and also somewhat similar to an Ian Hamilton Finlay work - Citrones). This example is signed on the back by the artist in black ink. VG+. ...
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1997
7.7 x 7.4cm, 6pp card with two internal panels that read:
TRIMMING
THE
LAMP
and
STOWING
THE
SAIL.
This work is after an early poem by Thomas A. Clark. Lamp trimmers were a specialised role on boats maintaining the many oil lamps safely, stowing the sail was an activity done at the end of the day. Finlay has created a work representing a day at sea and by extension the countryside. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1997
3.3 x 7.8cm, 4pp outer folder with tipped on inner concertina folded sheet that reads:
t a n k e r
A concrete poem where the length of the spaced out letters reflects the construction of the ship. B.P. Stands for British Petroleum. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1997
14.8 x 10.5cm, 2pp, card printed with a drawing by Ron Costley of the front of a boat that is labelled PROEM. The word is similar to POEM and PROW: and there is a stylish beauty to the shape of the front of the ship. However there are other references here to the term "Proem" - firstly to that term invented by El Lissitzky used to refer to his constructivist style based on Malevich's supremacism - and the other meaning - a preface or preamble to a book or speech (the prow being the foremost part of the ship - a physical preamble). The title hence refers all of these different simultaneous meanings. VG+.
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Edinburgh: Morning Star, 1997
14 x 10.5cm, blue card slipcase content of a 13.5 x 10cm, 28pp plus boards. Artist's book consisting of a number of contributions by Finlay, Harry Gilonis, Jackson Mac Low, Ian Stephen, Graham Rich, Haans Waanders, Simon Cutts, Thomas A. Clark, Pavel Buchler, David Bellingham, Richard Tuttle, Zoe Irvine, Alex Finlay, Simon Patterson, and Lawrence Weiner as well as others. One of only 200 printed. VG+.
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Dundee: Transcript Magazine, n.d. (1997?)
26.5 x 21cm, 90pp plus wrappers, Single number of this journal with a lengthy interview with Ian Hamilton Finlay and b/w photographs of Little Sparta with "camptions (sic!) by Finlay which are insightful. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1997
12.1 x 18cm, 2pp artist's card with a sepia tinted vintage appropriated photograph of two river boats with the sails photo-modified by Gary HIncks to be black squares (seen at an angle). 2 Squares was a children’s book by the Russian artist El Lissitzky which is regarded as a development of Supremacism (following Malevich's Black Square) which the latter called the "Proun". Hence this image is a visual poem representing the half-way house between the Supremacist and the Constructavist. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1997
12.9 x 20.9cm, 2pp artist's card with a sepia tinted photograph by Robin Gillanders.The image is of a shelf of model boats made by Finlay - the boats are all placed facing a single direction - making the collection look like a fleet. Boatshelf being a neologism that is similar to bookshelf. VG+.
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