Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1989
11.6 x 7cm, 20pp plus card wrappers and printed dust jacket. Six drawings by Angela Lemaire are conjoined with Finlay's pithy proverbs.
"The wind is invisible/but we can see which way the trees blow"
This is one of 250 unsigned copies. VG+ but staples are rusty.
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1992
9 x 11.4cm, 8pp plus card wrappers and green printed dust jacket. Two colour photographs by Eva Maria Weinmayer of a tree house which is revealed in the second photograph to be a model and incomplete. The two texts are both from Wittgenstein. The first which shows the seemingly complete treehouse is
"7. What we cannot speak about we must pass over in silence."
and the second with the image that reveals the "tree house" to be fake is
"7.01 What we cannot speak about we must construct."
This is reminiscent of Lawrence Weiner's dictum on conceptual art:
1. The artist may construct the piece.
2. The piece may be fabricated.
3. The piece need not be built.
Each being equal and consistent with the intent of the artist, the decision as to condition rests with the receiver upon the occasion of receivership.
But of course Wittgenstein is interested in truth to which his solution was to say the only possible truth to be known is tautological. Finlay seems to be suggesting that an alternative is to create a new truth.
The treehouse was made by "Kroder, Korner and Weinmayr. VG+.
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1992
11.8 x 9cm, 36pp plus grey boards. An artist's book with descriptions of unrealised sculptural works designed to be placed in a garden (arcadia).
For instance:
The word FRAGILE in Roman letters, on a formal stone placed upright by the foot of a birch tree."
A birch has bark that is very easily removed - and even peels from weathering - hence it may be regarded as fragile. The Roman civilisation lasted for centuries but self-destructed very quickly in c. 480 AD. - and may also despite its long history be also regarded as fragile due to its own internal contradictions.
One of 250 such books printed as Christmas gifts by the Press. VG+.
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1993
17.4 x 9cm, 12pp plus card covers and printed dustjacket. Artist's book which is another of Finlay's inventive poetry formats. Here "corners" refers to poems where part of the word is on one side of a corner (here represented by the page end) and concluded on the other. The first part of the word gives on meaning and when completed by the second part the word has new meaning (sometimes related to the firs to create a new visual poem). For instance:
DAIS
Y
The 'Dais' refers to a sculptural platform, when completed the 'Daisy' creates a poetic view of the flower where the flower head is placed on the dais of the stem.
One of the corner poems was also published as a book mark by Finlay (Windflow/er) and can be found elsewhere on this site.
Lenbachhaus: Stadtische Galerie, 1993
11 x 10.4cm, 40pp plus printed brown boards. Artist's book with drawings of wild flowers by Gary Hincks with their common name alongs side their scientific classification. A single text at the end of the book states:
Das Wort aus Stein: Wildflower. (Trans. The word of stone: WIldflower).
which may refer to the strength of such flowers (oft called weeds) in surviving.
JOINT WITH:
11 x 10.4cm, 12pp accordion folded insert. A textual commentary by Patrick Eyres.
Both one of 750 examples printed on the occasion of a German exhibition in Lenbachhaus. VG+.
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1993
11 x 7cm, 44pp plus green embossed boards. An artist's book with sixteen line drawings of various roses by Gary Hincks with the names of appropriate boats and their harbour numbers below. The last rose is XMAS ROSE and the name printed in red.
A long time interest in using boat names and numbers as poetry and sound elements as well as identifying certain boats with flowers is here again prominent.
This was published as a Christmas gift by Finlay in an edition of only 250 copies. VG+.
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1994
10 x 7.4cm, 8pp plus wrappers and printed dustjacket. Artist's book with a poem by Finlay and a quote from Virgil's Aeneid about sailing which regards ships as "nymphs of ocean".:
"ships
nymphs
nymphs
ships
.
bark
barque
barque
bark
VG+.
JOINT (LAID IN):
10 x 4.5cm, 2pp explanatory card ('bookmark") by Thomas A. Clark which points to the transformation of boat into wood and wood into boat as well as the classical tropes of change in gods and humans. VG+.
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d. (1994)
13.5 x 7.2 cm, 12pp plus card covers. Artist's book which has four one-line poems (one per page) thus:
the simplicity of sackcloth
the self-effacement of sackcloth
the aspiration of sackcloth
and
the REVOLUTION of sackcloth.
The lowly fabric (traditionally made out of goats hair) is cast by Finlay in its place but by the fourth line is allowed to turn against its oppressors. A reference to the French and other revolutions. VG+.
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1994
7 x 14cm, 4pp (gatefold) the works is a text:
SOCIETY IS THE CURE FOR PRIDE, AND SOLITUDE FOR VANITY
which is a quotation by H. de Schelles (Marie-Jean Hérault de Séchelles who was a member of the Committee for Public Safety and an active Dantonist).
Finlay proposes the work for a bench to sit between a grove of pine trees and a lake. The bench is meant to be a secluded place for active thought. VG+.
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d.(1994)
15 x 7.4cm, 12pp plus card covers . Internally there are four short lines, one per page:
the lights of Paimpol
the lights of Concarneau
the lights of Le Conquet
the lights of Roscoff
the lights of Quessant
the lights of Walston
shine in the rain
Finlay notes that Walston is a landlocked village on the hillside opposite the author's home.
All the other place names are French coastal communes where the nighttime lights would act as a welcome (and warming) beacon for returning boats. Finlay is suggesting his view of Walston is as welcoming. He dedicates the books to "Ailie". VG+.
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d. (1994) 10 x 6.4cm, 16pp plus card covers with French folds. Artist book with four reproductions of watercolours by Ron Costley of four trees - a bonsai tree, an apple tree, a lemon tree and a Christmas tree. On the inner back french fold Finlay lists four names - that of G. Couthon (the French revolutionary leader who has a cripple and had to live in a specially designed wheelchair), Jean-Jacques Rousseau (who grew fruit trees in his orchard), Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (who wrote the poem "The land where the lemon trees bloom..") and Caspar David Friedrich (who painted naked fir trees in one of his most famous works). Hence each painting reflected some aspect of their allotted historical person. One of Finlay's most beautiful books. VG+.
Ron CostleyLittle Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1995
12.5 x 13cm, 48pp plus flower pattern boards and tipped on book title label. Artist's book with ten woodcuts by Gary Hincks of flowers opposite epigrams by Finlay such as
4. A wild flower is a garden flower permeated by morality and poetry."
One of only 250 such books prints as Christmas gifts. VG+
