Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1996
15.2 x 6.7cm, 4pp. Inside the bright red card ate two one-line poems:
On the uneven road the bobbin red sail of the postvan
On the nearby bush the distant postvan's rose-
The colour is crucial here - both metaphors rely on the easily identifiable colour for a sale or a rose. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1996
10.5 x 6cm, 4pp. A drawing of a butterfly on the wing by Jo Hincks. Inside is a poem:
ROLLING HOME
Over-
canvassed
Common
Cabbage
White
The Cabbage White is probably the most commonly seen butterfly. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1996
11.3 x 8.7cm, 4pp card with a drawing of women in a harbour Jo Hincks after M Denis printed black on brown.
BRITTANY
litany
The poem suggests that nothing much has changed in these Breton fishing villages, life is a repeating refrain. Finlay also quotes Caroline Boyle-Taylor on this "The painters felt that the peasants' lives had not changes since medieval times". Maurice Denis - the source for the original image - was one of the Symbolists and Les Navis who often documented small communities on canvas especially fishermen. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1996
13.2 x 16.5cm, 2pp card with a b/w photograph by Robin Gillanders of three toilet rolls that have been painted and place on a table such that the image looks like the funnels on a steam boat. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1996
17.7 x 12.5cm, 2pp folding card with a watercolour by Janet Boulton after a boat model by Ian Hamilton Finlay identified as a "French Sardine Lugger". Boulton did a number of such paintings and Finlay seems to have enjoyed them. VG+.
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Llandudno: Oriel Mostyn, 1996
28 x 22cm, 40pp plus boards, First edition of this artist's book with a commentary by Harry Gilonis published on the occasion of an exhibition in North Wales. One fold out page. A series of linocuts by Jo HIncks illustrate one line poems by Finlay all of which are marine scenes.
"A grey shore between day and night" is "dusk" with an image of a boat.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1996
10.2 x 5.2cm, 4pp folding card printed green and blue on white with the text reversed. The two inner folds read:
Faint,
Lingering
Under
The
Elms
and
Faint,
Lingering
Under
The
Eaves
Both poems have the word FLUTE made up of their first letters and this indicates that both poems should be associated with sound. The former with birds in the trees (the birds' home), the second with sounds in a home. Finlay finds both sounds "enchanting" and magical one assumes. A pretty card. VG+.
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Glasgow: Wax366, n.d. (1996)
10 x 12.5cm, 2pp artist postcard with a b/w image of rocket fireworks in bottles labelled Revenge, Resolution, Renown and Repulse (all names of the Resolution class of nuclear ships which were retired from active service on28th August 1995 and replaced by the Vanguard class which carry Polaris missles). There is a handwritten note on the back "This is the fireworks piece I mentioned. If Tony (Blair) gets his way it will have to be updated. Best, David" in pencil. VG+
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1996
8.2 x 8.2cm, 8pp folding concertina card printed black on light brown. The three folds read:
LEAF & BOAT
BOAT & BARK
BARK & LEAF
Each recombination infers a different poetic image - the first the similarity between a floating leaf and a boat, the second the wood that makes up both boat and bark (bark peeled away will form a hollow structure) and finally the tree itself. VG+.
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Llandudno: Oriel Mostyn, n.d. (1996)
15 x 21cm, 4pp. Exhibition announcement card for a Welsh solo show - the front of the card is a linocut by Jo HIncks from the artist's book/exhibition catalogue Grains of Salt. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1996
14.7 x 11.5cm, 2pp. A colour image by Cornelia Wieg of carved names on a tree that has been rotated by 90 degrees to make the work seem abstract and somewhat like a photograph of a flower. This is one of three times this image is used in a Finlay publication - once as an editioned print, once as a card (here) and also on an announcement card for the print. There is a longer discussion of this work on the print entry in this cataloguing. VG+.
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Little Sparta/Nottingham: Wild Hawthorn Press/Tarasque Press, 1996
15.5 x 11.3cm, 2pp. A constellation of short translated haiku which were previously allocated to their Japanese authors have the names of the original writers crossed out and replaced by names from the English National football time such as:
Breakwater posts
the sea so calm
on the other side
Paul Gascoigne
The original poems were translated by Stuart Mills and Finlay appended the footballers. Finlay suggesting that the poems give up some essence of the sportsman.
This card has a short dedication in ink on the back from Mills to Robertson "for Paul from Stuart". VG+.
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