IAN HAMILTON FINLAY

ARTIST’S BOOKS

ALLOTMENTS. 1970. WITH SIMON CUTTS AND STUART MILLS. SIGNED & NUMBERED BY IAN GARDNER.

Nottingham: Tarasque Press, 1970 10 x 15cm, 24pp plus card covers and printed dust jacket. An artists' book with three Ian Hamilton Finlay concrete poems, three by SImon Cutts and two by Stuart Mills - all illustrated by Ian Gardner. Finlay's contributions are DAISY chain (sic), Carousel and Windmills Winding Waters. The book is very hard to find and often missed in catalogue raisonnes of Finlay's work. The illustrations by Gardner are charming and somewhat minimal - Daisy chain is illustrated as an iron chain for an anchor as Finlay's poem uses the name of a boat - DAISY - to create the visual poem. This is one of 100 numbered and signed copies. Slightly rusted staples else VG+. Very scarce.

Ian Gardner, Simon Cutts, Stuart Mills

30 SIGNATURES TO SILVER CATCHES. 1971. ONE OF 300 SIGNED & NUMBERED COPIES.

Nottinghams: Tarasque Press, 1971
7.5 x 22cm, 76pp with one fold out page. Original card wrappers with pictorial dust jacket designed by Margot Sandeman. This artist's book consists of appropriated fisherman's slips (the paper slips put on boxes of fish to identify the seller) which are one and two word poems in this form. One of 300 signed and numbered copies. VG+. Murray 3.38.

Margot Sandeman

THE WEED BOAT MASTERS TICKER PRELIMINARY TEST (PART TWO). 1971.

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1971
12.7 x 10.3cm, 16pp plus wrappers and pictorial dj - artist's book which purports to be a test for the ability to master a Weed Boat. The questions are all jokey and poetic at the same time. For example: "Q. What are the "petals" of the Port of Honfleur?" No answers are given. there are small vignettes on most pages by Ian Gardner.
Part One of the "test" was published in the series "Private Tutor" as issue no. 11 - see the listing elsewhere in these pages.VG+ although staples are minorly rusty

Ian Gardner

POEMS TO HEAR AND SEE. 1971.

NYC: Collier Macmillan, 1971
21 x 18.5cm, 48pp. Original boards and printed dust jacket. First edition. A collection of concrete and visual poetry anthologised from Finlay's other publications such as Rapel, Blue and Brown Poems and Stonechats amongst others. Different paper stocks and printings re-formated for this square shaped volume. Original dust jacket here has some closed tears but is overall VG with VG+ book. Scarce.

EVENING/SAIL 2. 1971. SIGNED & NUMBERED BY FINLAY IN INK FROM AN EDITION OF 300.

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1972
8 x 13cm, 12pp plus wrappers and pictorial dj - artist's book with two silkscreen images - the first is the text EVENING/SAIL in blue letters and the "/" in red - the second is the same but each letter but not the back slash replaced by blue dots. Typography and design by Michael Harvey. The disappearing letters indicating that the ship has gone home leaving only the mast to be seen far off on the horizon. A beautifully simple work which may also be seen as a momento mori much like the print "Evening wil come they sew the blue sale" - see elsewhere in the print section of this collection. One of 300 signed and numbered copies in VG+ condition.

MICHAEL HARVEY

FROM ‘AN INLAND GARDEN’. 1971. ONE OF 300 SIGNED & NUMBERED COPIES.

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1971
15 x 11cm, 12pp (printed recto only with three silkscreened images on thick stock) plus wrappers and pictorial dj - artist's book with lovely colourful small drawings by Gardner above texts by Finlay. A brown sailed tall ship has the legend "An orchard of russets" above its appropriate name Appledore. A brown bottomed boat is a "Rococo walnut" because of its obvious seams, a fur tree is a "pinnate evergreen" which in turn is identified as the sea. One of 300 copies numbered and signed by Finlay on the colophon. VG+.

Ian Gardner

A SAILOR’S CALENDAR. A MISCELLANY. 1971

NYC/Koln: Something Else Press, 1971,
157.5 x 12,5cm, 18pp (recto only) plus cover. An artist's book with silkscreens on thick card with interleaving pages and paper back cover (which is often missing because of its fragility). Three ring bindings. A series of visual and concrete poems by Finlay illustrated by Gordon Huntly. For example: 4 Sailing Drifters anre listed as Nobby, Nickey, Lily and Cloud - which Finlay finds an attractive grouping possibly just because of the vocalised rhythm. There is no real theme to the selection of works - this is indeed a "miscellany". One of 1,000 issued - this is in VG+ condition although the metal rings as always show flecks of rust.

GORDON HUNTLY

THE OLSEN EXCERPTS. 1971.

Göttingen: Verlag Udo Breger, 1971
15.5 x 15,5cm, 20pp plus pictorial wrappers. An artist's book with nine b/w photographic images of a fishing boat (by Diane Tammes) with the registration number KY 64 opposite a page with other fishing codes and boat names taken from the "Olsen Fisherman's Nautical Almanack" to create poems from the names. Finlay apparently also wished the name to bring to memory the poet Olson. VG_

Diane Tammes

SAIL/SUNDIAL. 1972.

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1972
7.5 x 7.5cm, 12pp plus wrappers and pictorial dj - artist's book with two drawings of triangles - one is denoted as a Sail, the other a sundial. Then tweo triangles are a schooner (a boat with two sails) and finally the numbers I - XII - is a fleet - presumably the boat numbers. Simply a visual pun based on the sundial,.
VG but the staples are somewhat rusted.

HONEY BY THE WATER. 1972.

Los Angeles: Black Sparrow Press, 1972
28 x 20cm, 58pp. Boards with printed title. An anthology of concrete poems (in part designed by Michael Harvey) with a section dedicated to sundials. This is the second US publication (After the Something Else Press publication the year before. This is one of 200 signed and numbered copies aside from the 1,000 unnumbered copies. VG+.

MICHAEL HARVEY

JIBS. 1972. ONE OF 350 SIGNED & NUMBERED EXAMPLES.

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1972
10.6 x 11.6cm, 24pp plus wrappers and pictorial dj - artist's book with ten concrete and visual poems and a frontispiece of a toy boat made by Finlay on the first end paper and also the dust jacket.

SHELF
sardines
pilchards
bottled ships

treats the tradition of making minature boats in bottles as if they are being preserved like tinned fish.
This is one of 350 copies each Signed and numbered by Finlay in ink at the back colophon. The date in some catalogue raisonne are given as 1971 but the colophon indicates with s Xmas publication in 1972.

KAMIKAZE BUTTERFLIES/CHERRY BLOSSOM SPLINTERS. 1973.

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1973
21 x 13cm, 8pp - a sheet of white tissue paper folded once lengthwise, printed with text and drawings by an uncredited artist inserted in slightly larger blue sheet similarly folded. An ephemeral artist's book where butterflies are likened to Japanese aircraft suicide bombers and cherry blossom to other fighter craft. VG+. Scarce.