14 Feb

Posted at 18:02h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1992
21.0 x 8cm, 2pp. A valentine's day card with several images of a flower with the petals slowly being lost until the last has gone leaving only the stalk. Much like a lover may decline a traditional question associated with valentine's day the words he loves her/he loves her not are repeated in turn until the petals have all gone. A final flower here with all the petals unplucked however rescues the day and the card announces "he loves her".
There was a companion card that reverses the gender of the words also released by Finlay at the same time. The drawing was by Gary Hincks. VG+

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10 Jan

Posted at 17:36h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1992 14.7 x 10.4cm, 14pp concertina artist's card with five different finials (the small sculpture on top of a pillar), the first four of which are traditional (Ball, Vanburgh Ball, Acorn, Pineapple) and the final one is denoted as a Pineapple Grenade Finial (based on the throwing weapon). Drawings by Andrew Townsend. VG+. ...

21 Dec

Posted at 19:00h in Artist's Books

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1991
10.5 x 7.2cm, 12pp plus wrappers and printed dust jacket. Four "proverbs" by Finlay are illustrated with drawings by Kathleen Lindsley.

"The poor fisherman counts his diamonds" for instance depends on the drawing to explain the diamonds is a metaphor for silver-backed fish.
Very good condition apart from some minor rust on staples. Murrsay has this as 1992 but the book has 1991.

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21 Dec

Posted at 08:45h in Artist's Books

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1991
21 x 15cm, 36pp with card covers and printed dust jacket. Image by Gary Hincks. The annual Christmas book publication by Finlay is here a collection illustrated short poems (most two-liners and most rhyming).

COUPLET
Doodlebug, doodlebug, where have you been?
- I've been to London to visit the Queen."
has a drawing of a V1 rocket bomb used during the blitz which was often called a "Doodlebug".

The staples are a little rusty else VG+.

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18 Dec

Posted at 13:14h in Proposals

Edinburgh, Scotland: Morning Star Publications, 1991
18 x 25.5cm printed publisher's envelope content of a 24 x 16.5cm, 4pp (top folding) folded card with a silkscreen image in green and black on beige with the poem:

pool
fall

pool
fall

pool
fall

rill

over an image of green ferns. A concrete poem which is denoted as a "proposal" by the Press and we have placed it in that category.
This is one of 250 signed and numbered copies from the collaborating artist Solveig Hill. VG+.

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15 Dec

Posted at 18:03h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1991
9.9 x 8.2cm, 4pp. A painting which may well be a potato print beloved of young childen shows a blue and red pattern which could be seen as a paper crown worn at a Xmas dinner. Internal to the card Finlay notes:

Shepherds - Bath Towels
Angels - Sheets
and below "(Instructions for a school play)".

The painting therefore can be read as also displaying the bath towels (with patterns) for use to make costumes for a school nativity play. Angels all in white obviously need sheets that do not have patterns. Perhaps Finlay is displaying his identification more with the shepherds (a job after all that he did as a young man).
This example has a hand written note on the back cover "Happy Christmas from Ian" in thick red felt tipped pen and is joint with the origina plain white envelope that also has writing by Finlay; "Edward". Both VG+

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21 Nov

Posted at 14:59h in Artist's Books

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1991
10.6 x 16cm, 48pp plus card covers with printed dust jacket. Artist's book with four folded over pages that have one text on the outside that reveals the second text when opened.

Neoclassical Thaumaturgy
opens to
The gods fly faster than sound.

A monostich is a one line poem. VG+.

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29 Sep

Posted at 15:22h in Photographs

Hartford: Wadsworth Atheneum, 1991 25.4 x 20cm, b/w silver gelatine press photograph taken by John Ravenal in 1990 in Little Sparta and distributed for the exhibition Ian Hamilton Finlay Matrix 116. The gate behind him reads Julie et Saint Preux - a reference to Rousseau's 1761 novel "Julie, or the New Heloise" where the two protagonists are lovers at the behest of Julie's unknowing husband who invites St Preux to educate his wife. Information label verso else VG+. ...

07 Sep

Posted at 10:38h in Exhibition Catalogues

Hartford: Wadsworth Atheneum, 1991
22 x 13.5cm, 16pp accordion fold. Exhibition catalogue with 5 b/w illustrations and an essay by Johan Ravenal and Andrea Miller_Keller. The works mostly relate to Finlay's mid-career interest in the French Revolution. Die cut for storage (as are all of the institution's catalogues. VG+.

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