Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d. (1991) 5.4 x 8cm, 4pp. Artist's card with a gate on the front and inside left of sheep in a pasture by Gwyneth Leech. Inside the card next to the crease are the words "gate fold" - to make a joke of the format of the work. VG+....
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1990.
9 x 6cm, 4pp. Artist designed XMas card with the text on the front:
potatocut robin
linocut garden fork
wood-engraved tree
The first two lines indicate the use of etching techniques in artist's works, the last line being both a refence to the bark of certain trees and also the lovers' carving of names on trees. VG+. Scarce....
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1990
7.5 x 7.5cm, 32pp and card covers and printed dust jacket. Artist's book with 9 illustrations by Gary Hincks and three line poems by Finlay.
The texts all relate to winter in the countryside and could be read as a single work but really each stands alone.
foot
following
foot
is shown next to a painting of footprints in the snow.
the staples are rusty but this is a scarce item - only 250 copies were printed as Christmas gifts, else VG+. This example is signed by Finlay on the first blank paper in ink.
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London: Victoria Miro, 1990
21 x 20cm, 1pp black and red on cream card. A "cut-out' which would allow the owner to make a small cardboard manger (with the cut away pieces of card used to create "hay" by shredding. The instruction is "to be viewed through the window at Victoria Miro Gallery, 21 Cork Street, London W1, from 23 December to 6 January, '91". A Christmas card of sorts. With original crepe paper "wrap around". VG+.
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NYC: Christine Burgin Gallery, 1990
19 x 12.7cm, 1pp black on light brown announcement leaflet for a show listing eight proposals (public installations) from 1985 until 1989. Typographic design. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1990
13.4 x 11cm, 4pp blue outer folder with a drawing of a bird. Internally a 13.4 x 11cm, 4pp sheet with a poem:
Morning and evening
dove
rill
in its throat.
This is one of a series of works which the Wild Hawthorn Press denoted as "Poems in folders". VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1990
13.4 x 11cm, 4pp blue outer folder with a drawing of a broken tree branch with leaves. Internally a 13.4 x 11cm, 4pp sheet with a poem:
Broken
willow branch
bent
to the pool
Willow branches usually take a structure where they bend to the ground - a broken willow branch is doubling down on the phenomena.
This is one of a series of works which the Wild Hawthorn Press denoted as "Poems in folders". VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d. (c. 1990)
30 x 42, 1pp offset printed green on white site map of Little Sparta by Gary Hincks with a number of "Detached Sentences on Gardening" and a key to major works. The map predates the later extension to the garden and grounds such as the formal garden with the bee hives - we estimate this was created c. 1990. The map was given to visitors to Little Sparta. Folded for storage else VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1990
23.6 x 15.9cm, 4pp folding card. A uncredited (although looks like Gary Hincks' style) painting of a Liberty Tree but here with chains and locks around it (the American and French revolutionary symbols did not have any locks but were just trees left free to grow). Under the tree Finlay has added the names of the French and other critics who had disingenuously and erroneously accused him of being anti-semite. A simple visual poetic attack on his enemies. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1990
13.6 x 8.9cm, 4pp light brown outer folder. Internally a 13.6 x 8.9cm, 4pp sheet with a poem:
Sackcloth
Stars
woven
in
The stars are compared with the rough hew of the flax cloth.
This is one of a series of works which the Wild Hawthorn Press denoted as "Poems in folders". VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1990
19.5 x 11.8cm, 4pp light brown outer folder with a drawing of a piece of turf. Internally a 19.5 x 11.8cm, 4pp sheet with a poem:
GOLDEN AGE
golden fields
golden flocks
golden flutes
golden hedgerows
golden hives
golden honeycombs
chuckie-stone currency
The repetition of golden initially refers to the light at the end of a summer day but turns into the colour of bees and their honeycombs. The abrupt last line is the key to the poem - a chuckie-stone is a stone that is thrown by children. The poem is a memory of a "golden age" when everything appeared bright and new.
This is one of a series of works which the Wild Hawthorn Press denoted as "Poems in folders". VG+.
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London: Frith Street Gallery, 1990
13.5 x 13.5cm, 4pp announcement card for a solo show of old and new work by Finlay. the print Scottish Zulu is reproduced on the front, internally gallery details. VG+.
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