Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1998
11.8 x 15.6cm, 2pp printed with a b/w photograph by Robin Gillanders of three stylised boat models - the abstracted forms are similar is style to the way Supremacist painters used geometric shapes and minimalist lines. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1998
14 x 10.4cm, 1pp printed with an appropriated image of a Dunkirk Little Ship "Shepherd Lad" which is for sale. The bopat's image and profile are reproduced. Finlay had previously used this boat name in a tile and other works - and here he denotes the advert as a "eclogue" which is a short poem usually with a countryside theme. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1998
9 x 15.2cm, 4pp (assymetric fold) artist's card printed orange black on white with a drawing of a "rusty corvettes at sea by Gary Hincks. This was one of the flower class battleships that were deployed in the second world war and hence Finlay notes it as a "rusted flower" - a mignonette which are often red in wet October. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1998
10 x 12.5cm, 4pp artist's card printed black on white with a list of the "Flower-class" corvettes that were loaned to the USA after 1942 the ship names (all named after flowers) were changed to be more in keeping with US naming conventions. These ships were therefore changed into different things much as all of the heroes and things in Ovid's Metamophoses were. Hence the title of the card. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1998
8 x 10cm, 4pp artist's card printed black on grey with a drawing of a battleship by Gary Hincks
Inside the card Finlay notes the participants of the "Battle of the Flowers" in 1941/1942 - Loosestrife, Larkspur, Balm.
There were 294 "Flower-class" corvettes engaged in the second world war all of which had names of flowers, the first two here both were involved in the Battle of the Atlantic and the third boar was never actually commissioned - Finlay has this name noted as "(cancelled)". Finlay returned time and time again to this naming convention for the battleships in cards and prints because of its use of the names of a wide number of blooms. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1998
10.2 x 15.2cm, 1pp artist's card printed brown and green on white with a text in French:
LE SOCIALISME DEVRAIT FAIRE POUR LE PEUPLE CE QUE LE CUBISME
A FAIT POUR LE COUTEAU, LA FOUCHETTE ET LEA CUILLERE.
In translation that reads that "socialism should do for the people what cubism has done for the knife, the fork and the spoon".
Cubist still-life paintings often showed common implements such as knives and forks as significant elements in their composition, and Finlay here is suggesting that socialism should raise the lot of working people and give them significance in a similar manner. This was the second of two cards with the same text but with different designs - here the look of the card is much more like a wall poster and demanding. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1998
9.5 x 15cm, 2pp card. The text printed gray on white in reverse reads:
trackless snows of the cool icelandic girl
The white on grey makes the card seem cold and distant perhaps reflecting the virginal scene.
We do not know the date of this card but we believe it to be a late printing but published prior to Finlay's death. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1998
10.2 x 15.2cm, 1pp artist's card printed brown on brown with a text in French:
LE SOCIALISME DEVRAIT FAIRE POUR LE PEUPLE CE QUE LE CUBISME
A FAIT POUR LE COUTEAU, LA FOUCHETTE ET LEA CUILLERE.
In translation that reads that "socialism should do for the people what cubism has done for the knife, the fork and the spoon".
Cubist still-life paintings often showed common implements such as knives and forks as significant elements in their composition, and Finlay here is suggesting that socialism should raise the lot of working people and give them significance in a similar manner. Finlay's politics are often assumed to be right-wing because of his interest in virtue, piety and classicism but that is not necessarily the case. This is the first of two cards with the same content but the design is different here with much more formal typography. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1998
18.5 x 9.2cm, 2pp artist's card printed brown and black on white with a linocut by Gary Hincks after Ben Nicholson's Brown with Little Squares. The linocut is similar to the original abstract work with its rectangular shapes but here the squares are fishboxes complete with the occasional boat reference number. This is the third of three cards published by the Press which takes the original work by the St Ives artist as a jumping off point. . VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1998
17 x 12cm, 2pp artist's card printed black on blue with a linocut by Gary Hincks after Ben Nicholson's Three Goblets. The linocut is similar to the original abstract work in that three rudders are shown overlapping in the design. A Coble is a North East English fishing boat with a long thin rudder which is reproduced here. This is the second of two cards with a very similar drawing was published at the same time in black on white. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1998
17 x 12cm, 2pp artist's card printed black on white with a linocut by Gary Hincks after Ben Nicholson's Three Goblets. The linocut is similar to the original abstract work in that three rudders are shown overlapping in the design. A Coble is a North East English fishing boat with a long thin rudder which is reproduced here. A second card with a very similar drawing was published at the same time in black on blue. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1998
10 x 13.5cm, 1pp artist's card printed black on dark blue (perhaps reflecting the low light of the film room). Finlay tells the tale of how he would watch Captains Courageous (in the East Neuk of Fife) as a young boy and the cinema projector was powered by an old fishing engine which meant the children could hear the put-put throughout the film which was about Massachusetts fishing industry looking for cod. VG+.
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