IHF Invitation Cards - Unoriginal Sins

IAN HAMILTON FINLAY. 1968. FINLAY’S FIRST SOLO SHOW.

London: Axiom Gallery n.d (1968)
22.5 x 13cm, printed brown paper folder content of three large 22 x 12.7cm, 2pp announcement cards each with an image of a work in b/w on the front and on the back gallery details. The three artists are Keith Milow, Ian Hamilton Finlay and John Walker.
This was Finlay's first ever solo show and his announcement card has an image of a sculptural work "The Clouds Anchor " with recto a short biography.
A rare item indeed.

John Walker, Keith Milow

IAN HAMILTON FINLAY. 1968. IKON GALLERY. ‘FIRST ONE MAN SHOW IN THE PROVINCES”.

Birmingham: Ikon Gallery Limited, 1968
23 x 20.5cm, 2pp b/w offset. Announcement leaflet for a solo show of sculptures and maquettes and other works. The short essay on the back is quite insightful and notes that it is not a large show. One b/w image of the glass work ROCK/WAVE on the front.
Finlay's first ever one man show was only two months earlier at the Axiom Gallery in London.
Slightly torn top left and some edge damage but else VG. Very scarce ephemera.

IAN HAMILTON FINLAY. 1969. FINLAY’S THIRD EVER SOLO EXHIBITION.

Edinburgh: Richard Demarco Gallery, 1969
22.7 x 20cm, 2pp announcement card for Finlay's third only solo show. Four photographs of Stoneypath (as it was then called) in b/w on the front and a further two works in b/w on the back. There are 44 works listed as being exhibited. A very rare item. VG+.

Richard Demarco

YOU, TOO, ARE INVITED TO….. 1970.

Sunderland: The Bookshop Gallery, n.d. (1970)
9.7 x19.5cm, 1pp. The announcement card for an exhibition of photographs of Stoneypath (later Little Sparta) Dianne Tammes. The photographs were used in the important Coelfrith 5 portfolio of the same year (and which we hold in this collection). A very rare early card. VG+.

Dianne Tammes

CEOLFRITH STREET HANDOUT NUMBER FOUR. 1971.

Sunderland: Ceolfrith Press, 1971
25.2 x 20.5cm, 1pp. Offset lithographic leaflet and announcement with one large concrete poem RING/INS 235 presumably by Finlay (not reproduced anywhere else). Very rare. Murray has this under Miscellaneous but we have recategorised it as an announcement.

CONCRETE POETRY: IAN HAMILTON FINLAY. 1971.

Gottingen: Verlag Udo Breger, 1971
15 x 21cm, 2pp. Announcement leaflet for the publication The Olsen Excerpts. An image from one of the book pages is reproduced on the front and on the back a short insightful text in English by Finlay about the book.
This example has two punched holes on the top where it has been stored in a ring binder else VG+.

PROMOTIONAL LEAFLET FOR THE WILD HAWTHORN PRESS. A ROCK ROSE. 1971.

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1971
12 x 17.8cm, 6pp (printed one side only), a promotional leaflet promoting the prints and books from Finlay's press. The front fo the leaflet reproduces the silkscreen print A Rock Rose displaying a grounded boat on rocks - creating a colourful equivalent to the sea shore flower. VG+.

Richard Demarco

IAN HAMILTON FINLAY. WORKS ON PAPER AND IN THREE DIMENSIONS. 1972.

Edinburgh: Scottish Nati0nal Gallery of Modern Art, 1972
18.5 x 12cm, 1pp mostly typographic announcement/invite card for Finlay's first museum show. VG+. A scarce card.

HONEY BY THE WATER. A NEW BOOK OF POEMS. 1972.

Los Angeles: Black Sparrow Press, n.d. (1972)
20.5 x 12.5cm, 1pp red and brown on orange announcement leaflet for Finlay's book - with one design for a sun dial: The Four Seasons as Fore-and-Afters". VG+.

AN EXHIBITION OF CONCRETE POETRY. 1972.

Lincoln: Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, 1972
18 x 13.5cm, 1pp typographic announcement card for a University of Nebraska group show which included Finlay with all of the major international proponents of concrete poetry. VG+. A scarce card.

IAN HAMILTON FINLAY. PRINTS, CARDS, BOOKS AND WORKS FROM PRIVATE COLLECTIONS. 1976?

London: Coracle Press, n.d. (1976?)
10.5 x 13.5cm, 4pp (folded at top) announcement card for this show created from loans of works not necessarily with Finaly's permission. One "constellation" work is reproduced on the front: a peach an apple from Rapel, 1963. Internally gallery details. There is a paper scuff on the internal left of the card which affects the gallery details else VG. A very scarce card.

Simon Cutts

IN WORLD WAR I, MANY SHIPS WERE SUNK BY SUBMARINES WHICH DISLIKED MODERN ART. 1977.

London: Serpentine Gallery, 1977
10.7 x 15cm, 4pp (single folded sheet). The announcement card for a major exhibition of Finlay's work which has the first printing of the cover image on it - which meant that Murray's raisonne has this categorised as an artist's card which we have ignored. The cover shows an abstract in red and blue and references the use of similar patterning on fleet ships during the war (called "dazzle boats") :the joke of course is that this type of camouflage resembles hard-edge abstraction which was in vogue for the 60s and 70s and hence the "dislike" by the U-boats. VG+. very scarce.

IAN HAMILTON FINLAY

INVITATION CARDS