Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1992
9 x 7cm, 4pp (single folded sheet of card). The text which is embossed (raised) on this card to keep it white like snow reads:
SWANS IN WINTER
Snow on
the snow of
their wings
One of the most beautiful of the Xmas cards and very scarce. VG+ condition.
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1993
18.5 x 10.6, 4pp. Folding card with a reproduced colour painting by Gary Hincks on the front which is of a yellow wild flower. The definition of a Wildflower is given by Finlay as "A Mean Term between Virtue & Revolution". The word "mean" has two meanings here - an averaging or the synthesis of the two ideas of virtue and revolution and/or the effects of the themes of virtue and revolution causing chaos and unpleasantness (which is a mild way of describing The Terror). VG+
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1993
18.5 x 12.2, 4pp. Folding card with a reproduced colour painting by Gary Hincks on the front which is a wild rose. The date 1794 was an important year in the French revolution as it not only saw the death of Danton by degree but also the Law of 22 Prairial where Robespierre centralised his unofficial dictatorship over the country by removing rights of defendants when accused of sedition or slandering the state. The wild rose for Finlay (which here has a bud alongside a fully opened flower) is signifying the wild actions of the Committee for Public Safety but also the potential of the revolution (which ultimately failed like most and returned France to the monarchy then Napoleon's despotism). This "definition" was used by Finlay in other works including a limited edition vase for wild flowers. VG+.
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1993
12.2 x 8cm, 4pp. Folding card with a drawing by Gary Hinks on the front which is in the style of the Edlich who used wood and other found objects in his cubist-like works. Here the drawing shows what looks like a found piece of wood with the word "JACOBIN" on it. One assumes Finlay felt that Edlich was somewhat Jacobin in his life. VG+.
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1993
10 x 10cm, 4pp. Folding card with a line drawing by Stephen Duncalf, of a plastic model of a tank on the front - the various parts waiting to be assembled are still on the plastic stalks. Inside is a poem:
AUTUMN.
brings us again
familiar colour<Desert Yellow,
Panzer Grey.
The colours of the Fall are conjured up in the colours used by model makers for tank camouflage. VG+.
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1993
15.5 x 10.5cm, 2pp card with a photographic image of a bust of Saint-Just by Kerstin Curwin.
The title of the card "A dream is always the sentiment of a truth that exists no more" which is somewhat appropriate to the hopes and wishes of the French revolution which eventually failed and the monarchy restored. VG+.
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1993
11.5 x 10.4cm, 4pp card with a painting of a watering can by Mark Stewart with the two line poem:
"If the garden were not a republic
the watering can would be king."
The watering can is an important part of any gardener's equipment and the poem notes its essential role but also refers to the 10th day of August when the Terror ended with the downfall of Robespierre and eventually the return of the monarchy (admittedly after Napoleon). VG+.
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1993
17.1 x 10.4cm, 4pp card with a painting by Gary Hincks of a carnation that has been cut in two down the vertical. Below it are the words "Saint-Just 1767-1794 "
On the back is the description of the young blade standing high in the cart as he went to his death. "He had a carnation in his button hole."
The card is a memorial for Saint-Just who died on the guillotine as part of the Thermidorian reaction. It also perhaps recalls the quote from the "Angel of Death": "One does not make revolutions by halves”. VG+.
Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1993
15 x 10cm, 2pp card with a photograph by Ralph Irving of close up of strawberry plants with a stick noting "Fete des fraises" in a net to stop birds eating the fruit.
Strawberry was the name (Fraise) of 11 Prairial (30 May). A celebration of the greatest of fruits. VG+.
