SHEPHERD OF STONES/PASTOR OF OAKS. 1992.
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d. (1992)
10.2 x 6,.6cm, plain manilla envelope content of three 10 x 6cm, 1pp cards. The cards have texts at the top -
shepherd of stones on the grey card
pastor of oaks on the green card
and "pasteur de chenes" a quote from E. Lochac's Obelisque on the last white card. Lochac was a Jewish Ukrainian poet who lived in France and was persecuted by the Nazis. All VG+ in like envelope.
LES FEMMES DE LA REVOLUTION. AFTER ANSELM KIEFER. 1992. HAND ADDRESSED WITH NOTE FROM FINLAY.
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1992
15.9 x 20cm, 2pp. Card with a reproduced colour painting by Gary Hincks with the various names of important female figures in the French revolution illustrated with particular flowers. Éléonore Duplay, here "Madame Duplay" was Robespierre's companion and possible lover. She is shown as a wildflower (a sometime symbol of zeal in Finlay) - possibly Queen Anne's Lace but that is not certain just our amateur identification. The was also a large print version of this work (see elsewhere on this site).
This example has been posted and is hand addressed by Finlay in bklack ink with a note "love from Ian 23.8.92" to Dawn MacLeod. VG but a little battered by the mailing system.
FRUCTIDOR. 1992.
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1992
11.5 x 11.2cm, 4pp. Folding card with a drawing of a still life by Kathleen Lindsley on the front of a basket of fruit, flowers and a crayfish. Fructidor was the twelfth month in the French Republican Calendar: named after the Latin word fructus, which means "fruit"
Each month in the republican calendar lasted 30 days and the weeks were repurposed to ten days each called decades. Further within every decade, each day had the name of an agricultural plant, except the fifth day when there was the name of an animal, and on the last the name of an agricultural tool.
In his instruction to the artist, Finlay has had same the ten fruits and flowers and animal included in the basket as in the names of the last decade of the month (the last name of the decade being actually "basket". VG+
WILD FLOWER. 1992.
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1992
11.5 x 11.2cm, 4pp. Folding card with a drawing by Gary Hincks on the front of a ship in a storm. On the back Finlay lists the names of some of the RN "Flower" class corvette - of which the ship depicted is one. The unpredictable torrents it rides causing it to be a "wild" flower . VG+
FiGLEAF. 1992. WITH HANDWRITTEN NOTE BY IAN HAMILTON FINLAY TO JOHN STATHATOS.
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1992
10.4 x 14.8cm, 2pp. A photograph by Ron Costley show a relief on a wall that has the sculpted word FiGLEAF over which leaves have been painted. In front of that the photograph shows more leaves but real this time. Hence the work about censorship is itself censored. Meta. VG+.
This example of the card has a short signed note in blue ink from Finlay to John Stathatos giving the latter Stuart Mill's address.
FABRE. 1992.
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1992
8.4 x 15.4cm, 4pp card. Two water colour paintings by Gary Hincks of a embroidered name tag for clothing with the name "Philippe Francoise Nazaire Fabre" and a signpost with the text "Fabre D'Eglantine".
Fabre D'Eglantine was the pen name of Philippe Francoise Nazaire Fabre, the revolutionary actor and poet. Close to Danton he was the president of the Cordeliers club and also member of the Jacobin Club. He went to the guillotine along with the rest of the Dantonists after his personal actions in accepting financial gain from the corrupt actions around the East India Company having given Robespierre an excuse to act against his opponents and his previous friend Danton.
The two paintings show Fabre's aristocratic roots and his later more revolutionary activities in their forms - one elaborate, the other rough and practical. Fabre was also the main writer of the French republican calendar.
VG+.
THERMIDOR AFTER KATE GREENAWAY. 1992.
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1992
11.5 x 11.2cm, 4pp. Folding card with a painting by Gary Hincks on the front of a woman wearing a republican rosette watering flowers. The original is a Kate Greenaway painting albeit Hincks has altered the imagery a little and the word Thermidor placed top left. Lilies grow behind her (a symbol of the French crown) and she is watering red roses. Arrosoir was the month when Robespierre and his cohorts were removed overnight by their colleagues on the National Convention and the revolutionary calendar month's name translates to watering-can. Thermidorian reaction led eventually to the re-establishment of the French monarchy but the replacement to Robespierre while not as virulent was still a committed revolutionary regime. The painting is a cute metaphor for the events of July 1794. VG+
AN 18TH CENTURY LINE ON A WATERING-CAN.
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1992
12.5 x 14.8cm, 4pp. Folding card with a drawing by Michael Harvey on the front and inside. The watering can has the text on it that is repeated inside the card so it can be read in full: "The mute dispenser of the vernal shower". The latter is an adaption of Thomas Gray’s 1769 "Sweet is the breath of vernal shower . . . The still small voice of gratitude" (‘Ode for Music’). The water from the watering-can is now a spring-time shower but without any sound of rain. Finlay may also be reminding the reader of the events of Arrosoir 1974 when Robespierre and his cohorts were removed overnight by his colleagues on the National Convention but that was July and perhaps not a spring cleansing shower - that is moot. VG+
VILLA HAMILTON. 1992.
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1992
7.6 x 8.5cm, 4pp card. A schematic drawing by Eva Maria Weinmayr of the Villa and its environs. A descRIption of the Villa, which is set in the German Wörlitzer Park, notes how the building has a son et lumiere event where a "volcano" - actually a "rock island" - would spill water down to the lake lit by lanterns to make the event seem like lava. VG+.
THESE ARE THE BEES TEMPLES. LISTEN. 1992.
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1992
23.5 x 6.5cm, 4pp. Folding card with a drawing of old fashioned bee hives by Gary Hincks on the front with Finlay's text which is repurposing Pindar's classical reference to the "temple of the bees". The humming of the insects is compared to religious singing. VG+