Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1996
9 x 9cm, 8pp plus card wrappers. Artist's book which shows abstracted images of sails with different colours and shapes of the reef ropes (the ties that allow sails to be pulled together to reduce the area hitting the wind. On the double pages here, the paper becomes the sail. These were also prints issued by Finlay and also an exhibition. VG+.
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1996
11 x 10.5cm, 12pp with card covers and printed dust jacket. Three drawings by Hinks show a square of brown overlapped on the a slice of bread (Hovis Loaf), a brick (Hovis Brick) and a sail (Hovis Sail). Hovis is a brand name for cheap commercial brown bread in the UK - the brown square reminding one of a single slice. Bricks share a similar colour and one assumes so do sails.
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d. (1996)
7.7 x 7.7cm, 8pp plus card covers. Artist's book with two drawings by Gary Hincks.
A text "Open the little hatch" is accompanied by a line drawing of a hatch in a toy boat - on a second double page spread the text is "Look in the little hold" and the drawing is of a nets inside the hold that can be seen now the hatch is open. Finlay enjoyed making model boats. VG+.
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1996
8 x 10cm, 6pp outer folder with an image of a starfish content of 6 8 x 10cm double sided cards.
One initially thinks there has been a printing error as the back of the cards seems upside down but if read in sequence the first side tells the story of a kidnapping of three Naval Protection Officers after a raid on a French trawler - La Calypso - by its crew, with the officers only released after a return to France. Red in the other direction the story of Calypso saving the life of Ulysses and holding him for seven years in her cave.
Finlay always enjoyed a naming co-incidence and the two stories obviously parallel each other in many respects. Small vignettes by Laura Gerahty. VG+
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d. (1996)
8 x 7.5cm, 16pp plus printed card covers. Artist's book which prints four pages of four colours with the letters in a 5 x 5 lattice - GREEN, BROWN, BLACK, OCHRE followed by the same lattice with the word PATCH. Finally the whole is identified as "Jacob's Boat" on the last page. VG+.
Llandudno: Oriel Mostyn, 1996
28 x 22cm, 40pp plus boards, First edition of this artist's book with a commentary by Harry Gilonis published on the occasion of an exhibition in North Wales. One fold out page. A series of linocuts by Jo HIncks illustrate one line poems by Finlay all of which are marine scenes.
"A grey shore between day and night" is "dusk" with an image of a boat.
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1996
15 x 24cm, 18pp plus printed green boards. Artist's book with nine b/w photographs by Robin Gillanders of the path to Little Sparta which in turn shows the ground, the gate from a little distance and then the sign on the gate. The first sign informs the public that "Following the authority's action against the Garden Temple Little Sparta is closed to the public". The second announces that "Strathclyde Region made war on little Sparta/Strathclyde Region is no more." - an adaption of a Committee of Public Safety announcement about Lyons and the final biting sign "Closed with the support of the Scottish Arts Council" which is a parody of the usual acknowledgement statement the SAC required to gain funding.
This was Finlay's retort at the end of the "Little Sparta Wars" where Strathclyde Regional Council fought with the artist over a ratings issue of a building they claimed to be an art gallery while Finlay believed to be a Garden Temple. By closing Little Sparta and claiming the Garden Temple was reclassified as a "store" then Finlay found a way of ending the dispute allied to the fact that Strathclyde Region was abolished due to the UK Government's reorganisation. His dislike to the Scottish Arts Council remained however as he felt they had not given him any support at all in his fight and the book quotes Andrew Nairne, Visual Arts Director of the SAC as saying "Little Sparta should be sacrifices to the greater good of the arts in Scotland" which is astonishing now that Little Sparta is regarded by many as the major artistic venture in Soctland of the 2oth centrury.
Very good + condition and an interesting documentation of the end of the dispute as much as an artist's book.
Glasgow: WAX366 for Morning Star Publications. 1997
14.5 x 20.5cm, 28pp plus brown boards with attached title label. Reproductions of 13 rubber stamp impressions from stamps that Finlay produced during the Little Sparta War. This was one of 100 numbered copies. Very scarce. In fine condition.
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1997
15 x 10.6cm, 16pp with card covers and blue printed dust jacket. Six drawings by Hinks illustrate newly created maritime proverbs by Finlay:
"Cross-winds straight wakes" and "Bilges beget rainbows".
The former being a metaphor for criticism causing considered responses or a doubling down on an opinion, the second a reference to the way all bilge water shimmers due to the pollution of oil - the new proverb suggesting good things can come from bad. Finlay's proverbs really should be more commonly used - they are wonderful.
One of only 250 published, VG+
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1997
15.2 x 21.4cm, 48pp plus green card covers with tipped on title label. Artist's book with twelve b/w photographs by Robin Gillanders of trees in Little Sparta where Janet Boulton had painted "highlights" directly onto the branches and trunks and Gillanders photographed them on very dull days when there were no actual reflected highlights other than the paint. Each set of three images of each tree gets closer until the last close-up.
In this sense the work is similar to the Fauvist treatment of nature with colour and bright paint highlighting parts of nature - hence why this is a homage to Derrain who with Matisse founded the movement. One of only 250 copies. VG+.
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1995
11 x 8cm, 8pp plus card covers. Artist's book with two poems by Finlay that share a similar structure:
willow
dogwood
daylily
azalea
hiding
and
daisy
foxglove
harebell
dog-rose
presencing
The first list of plants are all cultivated, the second list is made up of plants that are usually regarded as weeds or wild. Finlay in a note directs us to C.R. Carswell's Life of Robert Burns, page 452 - where while Burns is dying:
"And though it was too late in the year for some of his favourite plants to be in blossom, she and the boys found daisies and foxgloves and harebells and some late dog-roses." which account for the second list of flowers. VG+.
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1998
11 x 10.8 x 2cm card slipcase content of two volumes - both 10.5 x 10.6cm and unpaginated. Printed card covers. The first volume consists of the names of boats followed by unprinted coloured pages such that the painted colours of the actual boat are displayed serially. The second volume follows the first in that the same boats are listed (without identification) but now with the words of the boat colours printed in a large font. The boat names are repeated at the end of the book. For some reason this is reminiscent of some Sol Lewitt books in its conception but it also recalls earlier Finlay publications that are often referred to as "kinetic" eg OCEAN STRIPE SERIES 3.
One of only 250 printed. VG+
