Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1984
21 x 21cm (unfolded size) , two-sided folding paper which turns into a paper dart - with a marbled pattern on one side.
The inner message is "THE MARBLE ARROW ALWAYS HITS ITS MARK!". Finlay has made this into a paper dart which is a weapon of sorts in the Little Spartan Wars. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1984
23 x 18cm, 4pp card with 1pp 30 x 21cm insert. The announcement and artist's card for the re-opening of the Little Sparta Temple and Garden after Finlay closed it. The front of the card displays a painting by Gary Hincks of a watering can and a reference to the guillotining of the Robespierrists during the "month of Heat" (Arrosoir being the symbol of that month in the new revolutionary calendar).
The insert is A NOTE ON THE PRESENT SITUATION IN THE LITTLE SPARTAN WAR. An update by Finlay on the ongoing fight with the Strath=clyde region and that they had been granted a new summary warrant against the Garden Temple. Folded else VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1984
15.2 x 11.8cm , 1pp light blue on white card. The card with a drawing of a floral bundle with ribbons by Laurie Clark above a "definition" work:
CHARM, n. a something pleasing in a person or thing; it came in with the Revolution and went out with the War.
There is also a quote from Michelet's History of the French revolution discussing the major public festivals that were organised during the later years of the uprising. Finlay's definition of Charm is heavily related to the actions of the French revolution - placing it on a footing equal to Virtue. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, (1984)
6.4 x 20.9cm, 4pp artist's card with a drawing of an axe by Richard Healy with the title text on the "handle". The words "He spoke like an axe" came from his rival Barere and reference the surety that the young revolutionary brought to the debating chamber but also his reputation where he was the "Angel of death" announcing the condemned to the gathered representatives. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1983
11 x 15cm , 1pp black on cream card. The text tells of a "Football Match" between Little Sparta and Strathclyde Region at the Middle Gate ("Checkpoint Sandy") and listing the respective captains as Sue Finlay and Councillor "own goal" Sanderson. The ball persons: Councillor Allison, Councillor Lawson, J.N. Young, W. Taylor and Referee: "Tim" Mason of the Scottish Arts Council. "The game will be kicked off by Dame Judith Hart."
The design of the card is somewhat basic - and this is noted as because it was "produced in conformity with Little Spartan Wartime Economy Standards".
This card has a handwritten greeting in blue ink by Finlay and dated. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1983
22.5 x 9.5cm, 4pp, black on grey thin card with a drawing by Alexander Stoddart of a bust of Saint-Just with the name of the revolutionary altered to read "Satin Juts" - an anagram of the name. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1983
17.8 x 132.8cm, 1pp. The card has a descending text based on a form of "all X lie":
all governments lie
all generals lie
all Grecians lie
all gypsies lie
all gymnosphists lie
all grocers lie
all Graces lie
Finlay wants the repeated phrases to hint at the effect of cynicism on order - obviously some of the lines are ridiculous - and that, in some sense, that distrust of oppositional forces (such as the Hebertists who were determined to wipe out Christianity during the French revolution and the Dantonists who were more willing to accept the church as a force in the land - both were executed in turn by Robespierre who himself was not anti-clerical or at least not anti-theist) is ultimately corrupt. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d.(1983?)
8.4 x 7cm, 8pp single folding card printed on one side only in blue and red on white. The first panel lists the publishing details, the second shows the ship that has reef knots that look like the decorations on the side of the drums of the revolutionary army - the boat is called The Littel Drummer Boy and the panel remembers Bara the martyr, the third panel has the name Viala with a tricolour ribbon - here memorialising the death of the young martyr Joseph Agricol Viala who tried to demolish a bridge while under attack and died calling for Liberty and finally, the text "Hommage A David" who was a third martyr to the Terrorists murdered in his bath. A card in honour of three Republican deaths.
This example is signed "To Janet (Boulton) yours Gary (Hincks)" in blue and red crayon. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1983
18 x 13.6cm, 1pp. The "play" consists of extracts from letters sent to Finlay from Strathclyde Region and the Scottish Arts Council interspersed with quotations from Gertrude Stein. Stein's texts (due to Finlay's clever selection) mock the official texts that proceed each. An ironic and somewhat biting attack on Finlay's enemies which is at the same time comic. VG+
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1983
16.4 x 12.6cm, 1pp, black on white card. The illustration is a parody of a work by Theo van Doesburg, who was a leading figure in the De Stijl abstract group. The text "Join the Saint-Just Vigilantes and be a counter-composition" references a series of paintings by the artist where the shapes are placed on the diagonal. The inference being that the Saint-Just Vigilantes are awkward and difficult, not on the square. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1983
19.3 x 6.6cm, 1pp, red on white card. The illustration shows a series of drawings of French revolutionary style-drums with the text "Join the Saint-Just Vigilantes". The card is a rallying call for support much like a drum-roll might be. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1983
11.6 x 7.6cm , 10pp (single folded sheet printed on one side only) brown on white artist's card with two photographs by Andrew Griffiths of a tree that had recently been planted and another a fully grown - both have tree-column sculptures at their bases. The poem in the middle section reads:
A PLACEMENT
obeisance
and an excerpt from Finlay's "Detached Sentences on Gardening" which clarifies the idea that some items in a garden are like those of societies - some need to be fixed (in the sense of solidified) so that others can be placed (strategic decision-making).
The final section notes the Tree Column-Bases to be found in Little Sparta - one "Lycurge" and the other Saint-Just. The former was a Greek law-maker and the latter the stern deliverer of laws from the French Revolution. Finlay differentiates between the two by suggesting the Greek was more stable and civil while the latter more chaotic and dangerous. VG+.
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