Wild Hawthorn Press - Unoriginal Sins

21 May TERROR IS THE PIETY OF THE REVOLUTION. A COMMENTARY. 1986.

Posted at 08:53h in Wild Hawthorn Press

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1986
11 x 7.7cm, 16pp with printed card covers. A text by Stoddart on sculptural works installed in the Garden Temple considers in the main just one - Terror is the Piety of the Revolution - where the author claims it is a work open to interpretation but "it clears a no-man's-land between the two factions of Neo-classicists and Modernists."
Murray places this in his catalogue raisonne as the last work in the "Wild Hawthorn Press" section - by which he really means it is the last of the books/works published by other authors who are not Finlay himself. The gap in time between the 13th publication in that section and this one is 20 years - which makes us question that categorisation although Murray is right (without actually saying so) to note that Finlay did not publish any other authors other than himself and collaborations after 1968 (with the cessation of Poor. Old Tired. Horse.), We have kept to Murray's organisation scheme here but with slight qualms. Scarce book - VG+ although very slight rust to one staple

...

23 Aug DRAWING. TWO PART PRINT WITH PLASTIC OVERLAY. 1966.

Posted at 23:24h in Wild Hawthorn Press

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1965
55 x 43cm, black on white silkscreen with 54 x 42cm white on plastic overlay. An abstract pattern which when the overlay is moved creates a kinetic work in the emerging style of Op-Art. This is one of the rarest of Wild Hawthorn Press works to find - sometimes it was sold without the overlay with Finlay's blessing.

...

23 Mar SEA POEM. 1966.

Posted at 23:34h in Wild Hawthorn Press

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1966
28 x 43.4cm, 8pp publication which has the title concrete poem by Lax in the middle pages. Designed by Emil Antonucci for Lax this is an exceptionally rare publication. The text over the middle two pages takes the phrase "THE SEA MOVES LIKE A DANCER" and a wave pattern. The text moves around in the same way a boat might on the waves. This example has some sunning on the front cover and is also missing the original slide binding. Murray 1.12

...

20 May SPORTS & DIVERTISSMENTS. 1965.

Posted at 18:04h in Wild Hawthorn Press

Edinburgh: WIld Hawthorn Place, 1965
24 x 17cm, 10 internal sheets printed recto only plus card covers. Spiral bound. A collection of poems taken from Eric Satie's notes translated from the French by Johnson and illustrated by John Furnival. One work - PUSS IN THE CORNER - can be seen to be a "constellation" or visual poem relating the a cat stalking a mouse. Ratehr charming. One number of POTH - Poor Old Tired Horse Nr 9 - Finlay's poetry journal also included a couple of these poems but was published two years earlier than this more complete collection. This was officially the press' eleventh book.

...

25 Oct POLAR. 1964.

Posted at 21:42h in Wild Hawthorn Press

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1964
55 x 43cm, blue and light blue on white silkscreen. This visual poem by Furnival is an image of the Great Bear (Ursa Major) made up of the words BEAR, OURS, NU. Much like in the night sky the shape points to the POLE Star but here it is designated POLAR - hence creating a polar bear.
This was the tenth ever print created by the Wild Hawthorn Press and is very rare.
There are pin pricks in the corners of the print where it has been placed on a wall (possibly during poetry readings and then recovered as Finlay often did in the early years. Murray 1.10.
BR>...

23 Oct POEM/PRINT. 1964. THE NINTH PUBLICATION OF THE PRESS.

Posted at 23:19h in Wild Hawthorn Press

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1964
55 x 43cm, red and black silkscreen. Concrete poem typical of Kriwet's style of overlapping text to make larger patterned images. One of 300 such prints made. This was the ninth publication of the press (if one does not take in account the early POTHs). VG condition. Murray has this as 1.9.

...

23 Sep PARADIS. 1964. THE EIGHTH PUBLICATION OF THE PRESS.

Posted at 23:14h in Wild Hawthorn Press

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1964
43 x 55cm, green and blue silkscreen. Concrete poem published by Finlay's Press from the turn of the century experimental poet. Paradis is a sign post of sorts placing an idyllic, mythical place 1.5 km between "here" and "there". This was the eighth publication of the press. Albert-Birot died only 3 years after this publication. VG condition.

...

23 Aug EPITAPH FUR KONRAD BAYER. 1964. THE SEVENTH PUBLICATION OF THE PRESS.

Posted at 23:04h in Wild Hawthorn Press

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1964
58 x 43cm, orange and blue silkscreen. Concrete poem - one of the earliest publications of the press. The print is a number of letters N, O and T placed in such a way that different combinations create small words. NON, NOT, TOT - which have negative overtones in English and German. The larger shape of all the letters looks like an X - another negation.
Bayer was an Austrian writer and poet who was a member of the Wiener Gruppe. Franz Mon was also an experimental poet and like Bayer was also influenced by Dada.
Very good condition - this was the seventh publication (ignoring the POTHs) released by Finlay's press. VG condition.

...

23 Jun FLEECE. 1964. THE SIXTH PUBLICATION OF THE PRESS.

Posted at 22:56h in Wild Hawthorn Press

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1964
58 x 46cm, two colour silkscreen on thin paper. The word FLEECE is surrounded by words made up of the last four letters of the word but transposed into new combinations (ECCE/CEEC/ECEC/CECE) much like a covering (a fleece). The colour patterns also create a cross in the middle of the paper - hence along with ECCE (trans. BEHOLD), and the metaphor of sheep which is often used by christians this gives this work a strong religious flavour. The design was by Alister Cant on Bann's instruction. Very good condition. Murray has this as 1.6.

...

18 May CIDADE. CITY. CITY. 1964.

Posted at 16:04h in Wild Hawthorn Press

Edinburgh: Wild Hawthorn, 1964
20.1 x 24.5cm, 4pp. Single sheet with de Campos' text in Brazilian and English. A folded broadside featuring a concrete poem of words arranged on a single line without spacing that begin on the front page but ends on the last with the words "CIDADE. CITY. CITY". The fith publication by Finlay's Press and part of the poet's introduction of the South American concrete poets to the English speaking world. VG+

...

18 Jun A VERY PARTICULAR HILL. 1963.

Posted at 15:57h in Wild Hawthorn Press

Edinburgh: WIld Hawthorn Press, 1963
15 x 20.5Ccm, 20pp. Original wrappers that wrap around. A poetry book with 10 verses by Turnbull - with linocuts by Alexander McNeish. This was the fourth book published by The Wild Hawthorn Press. VG+. Murray 1.4.

...

02 Feb FISH-SHEET ONE. 1963

Posted at 20:57h in Wild Hawthorn Press

Edinburgh: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1963
21 x 30cm. single folded sheet printed with texts by six contributors. Unique number of this precursor to Finlay's revue Poor Old Tired Horse. Issued in broadside format, Fish Sheet One is composed of quasi-concrete poetic experiments by Pete Brown, Spike Hawkins, J.F. Hendry, Anselm Hollo, Edwin Morgan and Finlay. Folded as issued. A very good+ example of this early and quite elusive production of the press. Ref.: Murray 1.3.

...