AFTER JOHN FLAXMAN. R.A. 1981.

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1981
3.6 x 11.8cm, 1pp. A drawing by Gary Hincks after Flaxman's drawing/print "Apollo and Diana discharging their arrows" from 1792 is updated where the landscape is now of a war time harbour for U-boats and also part of Albert Speer's "Atlantic Wall". Finlay refers to the U-boats as "classical" in his text and there is thus both a literary and a visual reference to The Odyssey. Moreover, the two gods are referred to as "an Allied air raid is in progress" (the original Pope quotation has "They Bend the Silver Bow with Tender Skill and Void of Pain the Silent Arrows Kill"). The story of how the children of Niobe were killed by APollo and Diana because of her fertility-shaming of their mother for only having two offspring is turned into a story of revenge against the Nazis. VG+.

LANDSCAPE WITH WOODS AND A PILLAR BOX FOR THE POSTING OF BELLIGERENT LETTERS. 1981. WITH LONG HANDWRITTEN NOTE FROM SUE FINLAY TO HARRY WARSCHAUER.

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1981
13.8 x 90cm, 1pp. Gardner's drawing of the titular pillar box (a defensive position made usually of concrete in the second world war) suggests such a structure is needed as a posting box for the letters sent by Finlay and others during the Little Sparta War and other disputes.
On the reverse, there is a handwritten note from Sue Finlay to Harry Warschauer thanking him for putting her in touch with "NK" at Duck Soup, and for his gifts. She mentions that she (they?) are very busy due to changing an exhibition but also because of the "devastated garden'. A stamped and mailed copy but VG+.

IN THE BACK OF EVERY DYING CIVILISATION STICKS A BLOODY DORIC COLUMN. 1981.

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1981
11.5 x 15.5cm, 1pp. two quotations placed against each other for humour and also making the point that classicism is not dead and is an important theme of civilisation:
"In the back of every dying civilisation sticks a bloody Doric column" - Herbert Read
against
"In for foreground of every revolution invisible, it seems, to the academic stands a perfect classical column" - Claude Chimerique. Claude Chimerique is in fact a spoof figure so the quote is in fact Finlay's response to Read.

RIPPLE. 1981.

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1981
11.5 x 21.5cm, 4pp. One of Finlay's "definition" works - the word RIPPLE is defined as a small, often dark-blue fold or dent resembling a wood-chip. Will float on fresh or salt water in all light airs. The paper used here is a turquoise (possibly more green than blue) and the definition is the only text on it inside. The "dent" or "fold" referred to presumably indicated the fold in the paper here (there is no other reason for the paper to be folded otherwise). The fold also hints at the way a boat bottom is shaped to allow floating. VG+.

CAPITAL, n. A REPUBLICAN CROWN. 1981.

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1981
5 x 7cm, 4pp. One of Finlay's smallest cards - here with a drawing by Lucius Burckhardt of a face with a republican hat above a capital from a classical column. not the best sketch ever as it looks jumbled and hard to see but there you have it. Inside the card is one of Finlay's "definition" works - the double meaning of the "A REPUBLICAN CROWN" is joined with a quotation from Gerd Neumann about Callimachus the Greek poet of the disappearance of a capital which reads like word salad. You can take from the above that this is not my favourite of cards.

TWO TREES. 1982.

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1983
Two folding cards.
The first card is
ARBOR FELICE ARBOR PHILHELLENE
9.3 x 11.7cm, 1pp green on white. A four sided stand up to create a geometric form of tree trunk with the text "ARBOR FELICE ARBOR PHILHELLENE". One translation is "The tree "suckles you" you lover of Greeks" (our flawed translation) but there are other alternatives it seems. VG+
The second card is
THE BIRCH TREE RECALLS YOU O PHILHELLENES
11.6 x 14cm, 1pp green on white. A four sided stand up to create a geometric form of tree trunk with the title text. Again praise for those who praise the Greeks. Birch trees only just grow on the northern borders of Greece and also in colder, higher areas.
These two card sculptures are paired - and there are large scale tree plaques by Finlay that also bear the inscriptions and are expected to be exhibited/installed together. VG+.

FROM “35 ONE WORD POEMS: CURFEW”. 1982.

Carlisle: Carlisle Museum & Art Gallery, 1982
14.7 x 10.5cm, 2pp card. One of five cards released during the exhibition ‘Presences of Nature’ - each with a painting by Ian Gardner. Here the illustration shows a country landscape at night. Finlay's one word poem for this image is "Curfew" with beneath it the word "curlew'. The similarity in the words appeals to the poet as well as the link between hearing the sound of a curlew (a wading bird) and nightfall about to come down. VG+.

FROM “35 ONE WORD POEMS: OSIRIS”. 1982.

Carlisle: Carlisle Museum & Art Gallery, 1982
14.7 x 10.5cm, 2pp card. One of five cards released during the exhibition ‘Presences of Nature’ - each with a painting by Ian Gardner. Here the illustration shows a ticket in close-up. Finlay's one word poem for this image is "Osiris" with beneath it the word "osiers'. The similarity in the words appeals to the poet and the Egyptian god Osiris was the god of agriculture and by extension fertile growth. Osiers is a type of willow that grows in the wet. VG+.

FROM “35 ONE WORD POEMS: DEEP-V-HULL-GEESE”. 1982.

Carlisle: Carlisle Museum & Art Gallery, 1982
14.7 x 10.5cm, 2pp card. One of five cards released during the exhibition ‘Presences of Nature’ - each with a painting by Ian Gardner. Here the illustration shows geese flying over a river estuary. The geese however are notes which part with one half ascending, the other descending. Finlay's one word poem for this image is Deep-V-Hull-Geese which creates a visual correspondence with a ship easily pushing waves aside because of its deep V hull. VG+.

FROM “35 ONE WORD POEMS: MOORLAND”. 1982.

Carlisle: Carlisle Museum & Art Gallery, 1982
14.7 x 10.5cm, 2pp card. One of five cards released during the exhibition ‘Presences of Nature’ - each with a painting by Ian Gardner. Here the illustration shows mountains and a forest and moors. Finlay's one word poem for this image of moorland is marquetry and the look of the landscape does appear to be made up of veneers. VG+.

FROM “35 ONE WORD POEMS: DRIP-DRY”. 1982.

Carlisle: Carlisle Museum & Art Gallery, 1982
14.7 x 10.5cm, 2pp card. One of five cards released during the exhibition ‘Presences of Nature’ - each with a painting by Ian Gardner. Here the illustration shows trees and a river with rain falling. Finlay's one word poem for this image and the main title of Drip-Dry is May. A very British obssesion with the weather. VG+.

CLOSED. 1983.

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorne Press, 1983 20.3 x 15.5cm, 2pp artist designed postcard issued during the Little Sparta War - with on the reverse the announcement that the "GARDEN & the GARDEN TEMPLE are CLOSED" for the year of 1983 because of the "ASSAULT by Strathclyde Region". The card also notes that "NO-ONE CAN LEAVE THE ARMY EXCEPT AT THE END OF A WAR". VG+. Scarce.

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