Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1980
11.3 x 16.6cm, 1pp. A handwritten "reminder" note from Sue Finlay to Harry Warschauer asking for payment of £9.91 for publications from the Wild Hawthorn Press. The card is the Motoring Chocolate Soldier (Panzer Grenadier) from 1976. Some creases from the mailing process.
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6 x 21cm, original vintage xerox which on one side has "THE MINIMUM NUMBER OF SHARES AS QUOTED ONN THE FORM DOES NOT APPLY IF YOU ARE ALREADY AN EXISTING SHAREHOLDER" and on the other side an original (and as far as we know an unpublished piece of doggeral by Finlay:
"What is this life
if full of care
a po-faced look
is all we wear." The poemis of course a parody of W. H. Davies's poem Leisure which has the line "What is this life if, full of care,: We have no time to stand and stare.". We do not know the date of this item. Folded. Unique.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press. 1980 66 x 93.5cm, blue on white offset lithographic print showing a sketch of a nuclear submarine by John Borg Manduca with the title text "SUB" and the Latin legend "SUB SPECIE AETERNITATIS" which is a Latin phrase that means something is universally and for all time true ("from the perspective of the eternal"). Nuclear subs are regarded as being deadly partially because they can stay underwater indefinitely and there is certainly a beauty to their slick form. one slight crease upper right else VG+. Ref.: Drukgrafik 4.80.2. ...
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d. (c. 1980)
16.2 x 22.9cm, printed envelope content of a selection of two artist's books (Woods and Seas, Two Billows) and four artist's cards (Snowbark, Birch-Bark, Cytheria and ARBRE (TREE))- while thematically about "woods and seas" as per the title the selection seems a little random and possibly simply filled with items from the Press that Finlay had many copies of (Two Billows was also bound into another publication about artist's books so one guesses over a 1,000 would have been needed to fulfil all those publications and to be a stand alone book which is almost three times Finlay's most common print run of 350). These items are all described elsewhere on this site so this entry is for completeness really. All VG+ in like envelope.
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Southhampton: New Arcadians/Southampton Art Gallery, n.d. 9.8 x 13cm, 2pp postcard with a duotone image of the Garden Temple, Little Sparta on the front by Andrew Griffiths. Verso details of the image. VG+. ...
Dunsyre, Lanark: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d. (1979)
10 x 5.2cm, 18pp (printed on one side only) accordion fold. The artist's book has the text: "Typography which used to flow like rivers" - but all but the last two words are sent vertically rather than horizontally. A comment on experimental typography which infers disapproval although how a visual/concrete poets could take that view is hard to accept. The vertical section might be compared to waterfalls after all. VG+.
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Dunsyre, Lanark: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d. (1979)
10 x 5.2cm, 18pp (printed on one side only) accordion fold. The artist's book has a text printed vertically: "VTOLP" and then a few pages later "V/S" and the next page the TOLP is printed as an upward ascending text.
This is a concrete poem relating to the abbreviation of Vertical Take Off and Landing plane which first revealed to the public in the mid 1960s. The first page shows the passage of the plane upwards, the second is a representation of a normal plane taking off at an angle. We cannot work out what the "S" in the second typographic section stand for however. A shame but we continue to research this. VG+.
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London: Editions Poetry, 1979
24.5 x 18.8cm, 112pp plus original colour printed wrappers. the first number of this poetry and literature review which is notable for a full colour pull out of a reproduced lithograph by Graham Sutherland and work by Ted Hughes, Alan Brownjohn, Bernard Gutteridge, Iris Murdoch, Bob Dylan, Craig Raine, and many others. For our interest however the back cover is a reproduction of Finlay's rare print Le Circus! A VG+ copy.
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Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d. (1979)
7.8 x 24cm, 4pp (asymmetric fold). The typography by Ron Costley sets the three words together to form an unitary text. Elsewhere Finlay has used these exact trio of words together to describe the shallow fast moving water of a stream - but now the white on blue lettering gives a different meaning - the bark or outer layer here is the foam on the top of waves with the (deep) blue water beneath it. A visual poem.
Finlay also produced a much larger silkscreen print of this werk.
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Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d. (1979)
15 x 21cm, 16pp plus printed end papers (with a reproduced drawing of an aircraft carrier) and white card covers with dust jacket. The seven reproduced paintings by John Borg Manduca are accompanied by quotations and poems by Finlay.
The title poem has anagrams of the word "dazzle" accompanied by a "dazzle" painted boat - however the word dazzle is not part of the poem because the "camouflage" has worked (see separate listing for the unique glass work of the same poem).
Sadly the staples here have rusted and slightly discoloured parts of the inner sheets near the fold else VG+.
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Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d. (1979)
15 x 21cm, 12pp plus printed wrappers. Illustrated by Margot Sandeman, the names of 19 fishing boats (eg Odysseus, Traveller, Illustrious and others found in the Olsen's Fisherman's Nautical Almanack) are combined by Finlay to give a visual poem of the trials and journeys of Odysseus printed black over Sandeman's light brown line drawings of nature, animals, vegetation and fish. The tale ends: "188, 190. Viking Warrior Supreme." VG+.
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Portsmouth: Portsmouth City Museum and Art Gallery, 1979
16.3 x 25cm, 14pp plus card covers. Exhibition catalogue for a show of new acquisitions for the museum - notable for the cover which displays a scarce Ian Hamilton Finlay print recently purchased for the institution. The notes also show that they purchase an unique glass etched work FOUR SAILS (ROSY FOR BLACK) from 1976. VG.
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