Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d.. (1994) 5.5 x 14.8cm, 4pp artist's car with a text 'Schooner, sail your snows to the Pole." in the middle pages. A monostich is a one-line poem. Here the schooner's sails are being compared with snow because of their colour - and the pun of the word "Pole" indicates a double meaning of the sails being hoisted to the masts. VG+....
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1994
8.4 x 12.5cm, 1pp card printed red and black on grey with the latin inscription that translates to the "the final argument of kings" which traditionally meant a resort to arms, however Finlay wryly notes that :We have noting to add to our previous correspondence" is a modern equivalent and notes it as "the final argument of our rulers." VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1994
9 x 9cm, 4pp card with a painting of an archery target on the front and inside a definition:
Arrow, n. a heart seeking missile.
and a quotation about cupid from"Myths" by Bulfinch. Finlay updates the original Greek myth to a modern times where the "heat-seeking" missile is replaced by the "heart-seeking" arrow. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1994
13 x 6.5cm, 4pp card with a poem on the front:
Wild
post.
rose
van
The post and van words are in italics. Recombining the words in different orders gives different images and meanings while the original wild rose and post van are both objects that are red in nature (the card is printed in red on white). VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1994
15.3 x 14cm, 2pp card displaying Robin Gillander's photograph of a work in the garden of Little Sparta dedicated to Lorine Niedecker (a friend and a poet published by Finlay in some of his earliest initiatives. The work is hard to read because of shadows.
The image was also used in a book in honour of the dead poet.
This example has been stamped and posted and hand-addressed by Finlay to his son Eck. VG+ with minor postal marks.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d. (1994)
5 x 5.4cm, 4pp artist’s card which has the text:
arc-en-ceil
looping-the-loop
The rainbow is compared poetically with an airplane manoeuvre. VG+. ...
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1993
9.7 x 9.2cm, 4pp Christmas card printed black on white with a drawing after John Flaxman by Gary Hincks of "Sleep and Death conveying the body of Sarpedon to Lycia" - from Homer's 'Iliad'.
Finlay uses the image to add a new legend:
A flak-damaged B-17 finds a friendly escort in enemy airspace. Level contrails are those of out-going USAAF formations.
A previous published card by Finlay also updates a re-working of Flaxman to the second world war.
Sarpedon was a prince in the Trojan war who was killed and sent home for burial with the help of the gods.
This example is in original mailing envelope and has the message "happy Chrstmas from Ian in red felt tipped pen over the inner blank double pages. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1993
11.4 x 8.9cm, 4pp card with a photograph variation by Antonia Reeve of the Upper Pool in Little Sparta printed black on green along with a poem:
Cascade
The one
water
sings its
separate
small
pop-songs
as it
falls
A cascade has a double meaning - falling as the water does here - and in music - a descending melody. Finlay finds both appealing. This is apparently a variation of a Louis Zukofsky poem. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1993
17.7 x 6.3cm, 4pp card printed black on yellow with inside a poem:
Folds in its Meadows
melodeon
The homage is to the Russian avant garde painter Mikhail Larionov - one of his works was of an accordion player - the "folds" in its meadows being the billows of the instrument. One of two cards of similar design - the other being for the painter Viktor Borisov-Musatov. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1993
17.7 x 6.3cm, 4pp card printe black on blue with inside a poem:
Balsa & Tissue
TWILIGHT
The homage is to the Russian symbolist painter Viktor Borissov-Mussatov who painted colourful scenes of domesticity. The poem here will no doubt be related to one of the works by the artist - but at this point we cannot identify that work. One of two cards of similar design - the other being for the painter Mikhail Fyodorovich Larionov. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1993
12.4 x 8.2cm, 4pp card with a drawing of a fountain by Gary Hincks on the front and internally a poem "(words for a fountain)":
. . .
rising?
falling?
brimming
which perfectly describes the constant movement of the water. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1993
5.4 x 3.9cm, 4pp card with a typographic design the text ~"Fire Coming On Will Discern And Catch Up with all Things" run together and shaped into a lightning strike. The text is a quote from Hereclitus who also wrote "Thunder Bolt Pilots All Things" - a reference to Zeus the most senior of the Gods. The quote is a threat of what will happen to the unjust and the shape a clear hint at its origin.
This is the second of two cards with the same text and the same design but the font is much lighter than in the previous card. VG+.
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