Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1971
11.7 x 16.5cm, 2pp. B/w photo-image by Gloria Wilson of graffiti on a wooden wall where the majority of words are names of boats written by a crew member. - hence an 'anthology' of those who had visited the space. The location of the photograph is not known by us. VG+.
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Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1971
10.5 x 14.8cm, 2pp. Red and black silkscreen on cream card with a drawing (by A. Doyle Moore) of the named ship which is silhouetted in heavy black against the sky. The boat type is a zulu and the one pictured called "Chieftain". The reference is presumably to a black native chief hence a visual poem - something that more modern sensibilities would nowadays probably not be acceptable. VG+.
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Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1970
11.7 x 16.4cm, 4pp. Christmas card with the image of a fishing boat by John Furnival along with the Port Letters (FR), the Fishing Nos (531), the net tonnage (53), horse power (42) and its name (Xmas Rose). A visual poem by Finlay - a companion work to the one published year earlier (Xmas Star). Both Xmas cards were also published as much larger prints by the Press. In this drawing the boat is facing left, the first card has the boat facing righ - perhaps the first going to fish, the second returning to port.
Finlay's interest in boat names and numbers is reflected in the beauty of Furnival's line drawing. The boat is a poem on water. VG+.
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Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1970
11.2 x 11.2cm, 4pp. Green on white card. The image on the front is a drawing by Richard Demarco of a beehive that has fallen over in snow. Inside the text "A USE FOR OLD BEEHIVES./An old beehive upturned on the lawn, makes a suitable receptacle for snowdrifts." The drawing has falling snow that could be seen as bees in a different not winter context. Published late in the year one is tempted to assume this drawing was from an event at the Finlay farm and this is a festive card in some sense.
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Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorne Press, 1970
15 x 15cm, 6pp. Paper sculpture and fold out card - the text is the SEA’S WAVES’ SHEAVES creates a visual correspondence between the movement of water and a field of barley or wheat - both corn and water move rhythmically due to the wind but once the vegetation is tied together it becomes a solid manifestation much like a boat. Printed blue and silver on white thick card. VG+.
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Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1970
11.6 x 16.5cm, 2pp. Red and black on white silkscreen on card. The text is overprinted on a flat red but with a white vertical dashed line. A rip-tide is a fast current of water that moves directly away from the shore (hence usually regarded as dangerous for swimmers) and the white line represents that as well as a tear in a paper or sail. Hence the red can be also seen as a sail with a repair (stitching). The colon in the text falls exactly on the white line also - in some way a second "patch". VG+
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Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1970
14.9 x 10.4cm, 2pp. Blue and black on white silkscreen to create an artist's postcard. Seemingly a musical work with quavers on a stave, the drawing by Ron Costley also looks like birds sitting on telephone wires. Les Hirondelles is the French for swallows - the small, fast flying birds which have a distinctive tripartite song - much like the grouping of the notes here. VG+. A lovely card and if one is musical one could play the notes.
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Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1970
15 x 10.5cm, 2pp. The card has a drawing by Gardner on the front of a floating water lily. the text below "A WATERLILY POOL/h'arbour" reminds one of the way the leaves in a water lily can enclose a space of water and also a shelter for small insects or even fish - hence an arbour of sorts. VG+.
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Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1970
12.5x 6.8cm, 2pp. The card is the one of a series that reproduce phrases found in journals and newspapers together to tell a quasi-story or visual poem. Here the headline "SHETLAND BOATS TURN TO SCALLOPS" is on the surface a tale of a change in fishing strategy - but of course it also can be read as a amusing transformation of the boats into shells. This reminds one of the classical tales of Ovid's "Metamorphoses" where every story is of a change in form for a participant (thus the use of 'metamorphoses' in the card's title). Additionally scallop's hollowed out shells have the shapes of boat hulls and Finlay has chosen an outline font for the main text which reflects that hollowing out in some typographic analogue way. As ever, several meanings are to be found in a simple work. Fine.
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Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1970
10.5 x 15cm, 4pp. Artist's postcard with a line drawing by Margot Sandeman of a garden gate and various flowers.
The text inside the card reads:
"ARCADIAN SUNDIALS. All Times on these sundials are Solar Time."
The elements of the garden all cast shadows and can be regarded as measures of solar time. This card is signed "love from Margot (Sandeman)" in ink and is else VG+.
With original unprinted postal envelope.
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Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1970
10.5 x 15cm, 2pp. Full colour artist's postcard with an image of a sundial made by Finlay for later installation in the High Street in Biggar. The stone work which was inscribed with the text "AZURE & SON. ISLANDS LTD. OCEANS INC." cut in slate by Michael Harvey. This was the first colour postcard that Finlay published under the press' imprint.
Azure of course is the bright blue that is usually associated with the sky on a bright lovely day - and as a result a friend to a sundial that works best on such bright days. The three references to Azure/islands/Oceans - therefore cover the full landscape of sky, land and sea.
The text was originally a poem published in A Sailor's Calendar by the Something Else Press but in a letter to Stephen Bann (Page 80 of Midway, 2014) Finlay explains that the work is to be sited on a traffic island (hence the Island reference) and that "& SON/Ltd./INC." places the work relative to local commerce (Finlay refers to traffic in the sense of both vehicle movement and economic activity). Finlay also notes he is pleased the the work would be in Biggar where his rival/enemy Hugh McDiarmid lived. A sculptural two finger salute.
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Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1970
12.3 x 17cm, 2pp. Blue and black on white artist's postcard with a photograph of a boat with colour annotations (words) to different parts of the vessel. Lemons being a common theme of classical still life paintings, Finlay also often compares boats with lemons. Here by the addition of the colours is able to make the image even more like both a domestic scene and a seascape. VG+.
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