IAN HAMILTON FINLAY

ARTIST’S POSTCARDS

A HEART-SHAPE. 1971.

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1971
14.8 x 10.4cm, 2pp. Two shades of red on white silkscreen card - the drawing by Ron Costley is of a a flat red rectangle with a square patch with white stitching.
Finlay refers to patching time and time again in his work - La Belle Hollanaise, the harlequin works of PIcasso, the text of Evening will come.... all regard patching as an important intervention into life. To patch something is to care about it - to restore it to goodness and here the square patch is called a heart-shape which it certainly is not in any physical sense but emotionally it certainly is. VG+.

Ron Costley

BIRCH-BARK. 1971.

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1971
16.8 x 12.5cm, 2pp. Duotone image of a toy boat made by Finlay on water by Dianne Tammes. Below the image is a two line poem - birch-bark/birch-barque. The former clearly refers to the tree and the latter the square multi-masted boat - but the word barque is an antiquated word for tree bark also. Birch bark peels away from the tree in large panels much like the way sail material is one single surface. The poem moves back and forth between the two meanings and the two visual parallels. VG+.

Dianne Tammes

DAISIES. 1971, SIGNED “LOVE FROM IAN”.

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1971
15.2 x 10.1cm, 2pp. Four colour (green, brown, blue and black) silkscreen of a drawing by Ian Gardner of a growing pot with a stick labelled "daisies" sticking out of it.
The wooden label becomes the daisy - much like in a Magritte a word replaces the thing it represents. A visual form of semiology where the interpretation of a sign becomes the most important and most dominant analysis of a (somewhat pretty) drawing.This example is signed on the back with :"Love from Ian" in black ink. VG+

Ian Gardner

BOOK-FLAG. 1971.

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1971
4.9 x 14.9cm, 2pp. Pink on white silkscreen - a book-mark which one might consider "a book-flag" in that a book mark flags a place in a book. Additionally the text on one side of the card reads "windflow" and an arrow but when one turns the card over the word becomes "windflower" by the addition of "er" in the same font.
The card if placed on a stick to create a quasi-flag would be pushed in the direction of the "windflow" but could also be seen as a "windflower' flapping in the wind. An ingenious small card work. Typography by Ron Costley.

Ron Costley

A MEMORY OF SUMMER. 1971.

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorne Press, 1971
15 x 18cm, 6pp folded card printed with a line drawing by Jim Nicholson of a boat amongst vegetation. The card called A Memory of Summer has additonal information thus "In Trelew Creek, Diur Mrs Thomas Gray's Building of the Hobah" and below that

A ketch
In vech

A is a two-masted sailboat whose mainmast is taller than the mizzen mast (and thr mast can be seen over the flowers in the drawing) and vetch is a fast growing vertical flower which here is being likened to the masts of the boat. The "memory" is from a book called The Merchant Schooners" from 1978 - and refers to the boat being built in the creek hence the boat like the vetch grows naturally during the summer months.
This is one of 300 copies numbered and signed by Finlay.VG+.

JIM NICHOLSON

TREE-SHELLS. 1971.

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1971
9.8 x 7cm, 4pp. Artist's card with a reproduced painting by Ian Gardner of a tree in a landscape. Inside the card is the text: "TREE-SHELLS. Instructions: Apply ear to Tree-Shell. Listen for Lakes." The card can be used to create the same auditory illusion as holding a sea-shell to the ear - hence bringing the sound of water (lakes) to the ear. VG+

Ian Gardner

CATCHES. 1971.

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1971
11.2 x 11.4cm, 4pp. Artist's card with a reproduced drawing by Margot Sandeman of the child's game of conkers on strings and a leaf from the horse chestnut tree. Inside the card is the text: "CATCHES. A big catch is a wee consolation. (After Paul Klee)." VG+.

Margot Sandeman

UNICORN (A.C.M). 1971.

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1971
10.8 x 13cm, 4pp. Artist's card with a photograph by Dianne Tammes of a Finlay toy boat sailing on the water. Inside is the descriptive text: "Ian Hamilton Finlay's Unicorn. Length o.a. 91/2 in, Tonnage 6oz. Auxiliary clockwork motor". The boat is treated as if it was a full sized boat with its measurements but the auxiliary motor which is clockwork gives the game away.

Dianne Tammes

XMAS MORN. 1971. CHRISTMAS CARD.

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1971
12.4x 16.4cm, 4pp. Christmas card with the image of a fishing boat along with the Port Letters (FR), the Fishing Nos (218), the net tonnage (54), horse power (200) and its name (Xmas Morn). A visual poem by Finlay - a companion work to the two cards published at Christmas for both of the earlier two years.
Finlay's interest in boat names and numbers is reflected in the beauty of Furnival's line drawing. The boat - here drawn by Michael Harvey - like the previous two earlier drawings by John Furnival, is a poem on water. Interestingly Harvey's drawing style cannot be told apart from the earlier Furnival drawings. VG+.
JOINT WITH:
Original mailing envelope hand addressed to Seamus Cooney of the University of Kalamazoo by Finlay and dated November 29 1971.

MICHAEL HARVEY

ELEGY FOR WHIMBREL AND PETREL. 1971.

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1971
21 x 12.5cm, 4pp. Artist's card with a reproduced painting by Ian Gardner tipped on the card and opposite a text: "Elegy for Whimbrel and Petrel/petrol". A whimbrel is a wading bird and petrel is another sea bird that spends much of its time on the wing rather than on the sand hence between the two animals both sand and sky birds are represented. The elegy - the poem - is a sad consideration of the effects of pollution on seaside bird life. Opposite the boat in the painting is beached and has its sails ripped - hence it appears petrol fuelled boats are replacing the more traditional vessels much to Finlay's dismay. VG+.

Ian Gardner

KITE. WILLING WINGS. 1971.

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1971
12.5 x 9.1cm, 4pp. Artist's card with a photographic image of a kite on the front. Internally the text reads: "Willing Wings. A Wild Hawthorn kite sets off on a leaflet raid, it's target The Arts Council of Great Britain, or possibly Fulcrum Press. New Year, 1971."
The kite - one of Finlay's handmade toys - is here weaponised. Finlay by 1971 had fallen out with the Arts Council and also the Fulcrum Press (over the production of the fifth edition of The Dancers Inherit the Party" which they had published claiming it was the first edition. This is the first card published by Finlay with an intent of attacking his enemies.

IS THERE A SHIP NAMED THE WAVE SHEAF? 1972.

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1972
10.5 x 14.9cm, 4pp. Christmas card with typography by Michael Harvey with the title text across the card printed light yellow on yellow. The colour is meant to be reminiscent of wheat - and the boat name "Wave Sheaf" references the way the wind makes the stalks billow as if they are waves. The way the text is placed also implies a voyage across the horizon by a boat and simultaneously the ascenders of the letters might be regarded as masts or the sheaves. Additionally a wave-sheave was a traditional offering given by Jewish priests to their god and preceded the harvesting of the corn.
Leviticus 23:10-14 says "Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, When you be come into the land which I give to you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then you shall bring a sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest: And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it."

MICHAEL HARVEY