Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1996 11.5 x 14cm, 4pp. Artist's card with a drawing of fishing creels by Kathleen Lindsey on the front an internally a poem by Finlay based on Theocritus's Idyll XX1, lines 6 - 13. The poem describes two old fishermen asleep next to their fishing gear and notes their blanket is "a gansey stiched (it seemed) from net". Gansey is a style of knitting that was used primarily by fishermen with a very large and loose stitch. VG+. ...
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1996
10 x 14.2cm, 1pp, artist's card with quotation from Bernard Lassus in Between Landscape Architecture and Land Art which is deliberately chosen to make Lassus seem stupid - "21 centimetres is 21 centimetres for me and not 22 centimetres". Finlay appends sarcastically "Remarkable. Who is this genius?". Lassus and Finlay had been friends (Lassus had written forewords for some of Finlay's catalogues) and this seems to mark a falling out (we at this point do not know what over). VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1996
10 x 14.5cm, 1pp, full colour artist's card with a photograph of Little Sparta where garden gnomes (which are not usually found in Finlay's garden) are next to a gravestone sculpture that calls to "Bring back the birch". The slogan "Bring back the birch" was a right-wing law and order slogan now not so often heard demanding the return of corporal punishment (whipping using a birch branch) but also is a call by Finlay to re-establish the birch tree in Scotland. An usually humorous card. This example is hand addressed to Janet Boulton and posted with franks and stamps. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1996
9.9 x 8.2cm, 2pp. Two paintings of the same village are reproduced, the first is labelled "an uninviting garden" despite being perfectly pleasant. The second photo-manipulated version of the same painting but elements have been taken away (flowers on the tree and in the grass and bushes) and other elements added (a pirate like figure, shops, a flock of birds on the grass, a carousing group of people in a coach) underneath this less appealing scene is the text "The same garden, improved by Strathclyde Region with the support of the Scottish Art Council".
Another attack on his enemies by Finlay.
This example of the card is hand addressed by Finlay to Janet Boulton. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1996
10.2 x 14.6cm, 2pp artist's card. The card gloats at the demise (due to local government reorganisation) of his enemy Strathclyde Region by altering a phrase from the French revolution "Lyons made war on Liberty/Lyons is no more" which refers to the revolt against Paris that was put down by violent force. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1996
10.6 x 15cm, 2pp artist's card. The front of the card has a fake notice that Arcadia is now W.D. (War Department - an old designation not used in 1996) and on the reverse an announcement that "following the action taken by Strathclyde Region, the Garden, Little Sparta will be closed to the public during 1996." This card was hand addressed to Janet Boulton and mailed to her else VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1996
18.5 x 12cm, 4pp black on cream artist's card. Internally a poem is a loose translation/adaption from Heideggert's Aus der Erfahrung des Denkens a book about poetry and philosophy. Finlay points to the joys and inspirations one can take from the ordinary.
The Echoes Series are writings or poems by Finlay that use another work as a starting point to expand on the original or detourn it. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1996
13.4 x 14.2cm, 2pp brown on cream artist's card with typography by Michael Harvey in an old-fashioned style. The text notes that linseed oil, cod oil, red ochre, yellow ochre and seawater caused the colouring on older sails as if deliberately painted. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1996
11.2 x 16cm, 2pp artist's card with a full colour photograph by Pia Maria Simig of a model boat by Finlay. The highly colourful boat with its orange/red nets is an homage in colour to paintings of boats by Van Goch. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1996
14 x 6cm, 4pp black on blue artist's card with a drawing by John Andrew of a boat on the front. On the back there is a "definition" work:
Mirror, n. a boat we can see ourselves in.
A comment that not only suggests a boat may have characteristics of the owner but has a double meaning that one can imagine oneself sailing it. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1996
13.4 x 12.4cm, 2pp black on white artist's card with small drawings by Heather Deedman of wooden joints and supports. The card is entitled
BITTS
bits
. Bitts on a boat are posts on a deck or fastening mooring lines or cables. The closeups of each Bitt may be seen as bits of Bitts. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1996
15.3 x 12.4cm, 42pp black on white artist's card with a drawing by Gary HIncks of a model making process where the holes in the side of the model representing porthole are made by pushing a pencil through the wood. The card is dedicated as a "Homage to SImon Cutts" - a writer and poet who presumably makes his mark on the world by the use of a pencil also. VG+.
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