22 Sep

Posted at 10:00h in Letters + Documents

Two different announcement cards for exhibitions by John Furnival on the back of which is a lengthy hand written note in black ink noting that a librarian at the former Bath Academy had contacted Furnival about Robertson's interest in the early portfolios Furnival printed at the college.
He noted that he had completed one with Finlay: "Headlines/Eavelines" and others with dsh and "Eddie" Morgan as well as one by himself. The note explains how only 20 of each portfolio were made and that a further portfolio with Ernst Jandl was planned but aborted after only 3 prints were made. The missive continues noting how Finlay had allowed Furnival to continue distributing "After The Russia" despite a full stop being missing in the text.
Furnival then noted his boat-prints for the Wild Hawthorn Press and how Finlay "cast me back to Athens from Little Sparta (after refusing to beat up Stuart Mongomery!)."
Furnival then invited Robertson to call him and supplied a number .
Robertson relates the tale told to him by Furnival in the subsequent call about how Finlay had hosted Montgomery for a few days at Little Sparta (then Stoneypath) but had fallen out with him during the drive to the train station where Finlay left him off so that he could go to Furnival next. Furnival received a call from Finlay while Montgomery was in transit "asking me to punch Stuart in the face as soon as he got off the train which of course I refused to do". Thereafter Finlay refused to talk to Furnival for not administering what he saw as justice for a slight and their collaborations ended.
JOPINT: Original mailing envelope franked 22 September 2003.

...

22 Apr

Posted at 09:07h in Page Works & Contributions

Edinburgh: Morning Star Press, 1994 21 x 15cm, gatefold outer orange folder content of a 18 x 12cm, 10pp (single folded sheet) with page contributions by Finlay, Gael Turnbull, Tessa Ransford, George MacKay Brown, Ian Stephen, Edwin Morgan, Peter Larkin, Richard Price, Peter Dent and a cover illustrated by Margot Sandeman with text by Bridget Penney. The shipping forecast is a nightly and morning broadcast on the BBC which tells the weather for shipping in the various seas around Great Britain but it has iconic status as many peopel who are not fishermen listen to it because the names of the various weather stations are somewhat poetic in themselves. Finaly here contributes a short work:<BR?
LATE NIGHT SHIPPING FORECAST

A shoal
of names
in nets
of rain

Where the weather station names are compared to a fishing catch held together by a net of rain.
The Morning Star Press was the publishing house of Alex Finlay son of Ian. One of 100 hand numbereed copies. Scarce. VG+. ...

04 May

Posted at 22:05h in Page Works & Contributions

London: Penguin Books, 1970
18 x 11cm, 254pp. Original card wrappers. The fourteenth of the Penguin series of anthologised plays - here notable for the inclusion of two plays by Ian Hamilton Finlay written in the mid 60s although here given a copyright of 1970. The first Walking Through Seaweed is a coming of age discussion between two young girls where the tricky act of balancing on wet seaweed is a metaphor for learning how to be an adult. The Estate Hunters is a series of scenes between father and son who go fishing but the son disappoints (as always). The two plays were also published translated into German in the book … "Und alles blieb wie es war: vier einakter" from 1966. The foreword to the book is by Edwin Morgan. VG+

...

15 Oct

Posted at 16:35h in Poor Old Tired Horse + Broadsides

Stoneypath; Wild Hawthorne Press, 1967
26 x 21cm, 8pp. The final number of Finlay’s poetry publication. Design and calligraphy by Jim Nicholson. Contributions from Ronald Johnson, Edwin Morgan, George Mackay Brown, Eli Siegel, Jerome Rothenberg, Alkman (translated by Guy Davenport), Hugh Creighton Hill, Stuart Mills, Pedro Xista, Alan Riddell, Martin Seymour-Smith, Kenelm Cox, Giles Gordon, Douglas Young, Edward Lucie-Smith, Stephen Bann, Dick Sheeler, Astrid Gillis, Oswald de Andrade, Ernst Jandl, Gael Turnbull, Aram Saroyan, Jonathan Williams and Ian Hamilton Finlay. VG+.
Finlay whilst not inventing the One Word Poem format certainly helped popularise it - he uses the format in a number of his artist's books. The last poems in this publication are by Finlay and include some of his best known works reformatted in to such a form.

A SEE-SAW
_________
SEA

...

15 Jul

Posted at 16:33h in Poor Old Tired Horse + Broadsides

Stoneypath; Wild Hawthorne Press, 1967
30 x 21cm, 12pp. The twenty-fourth number of Finlay’s poetry publication. Designed by Alistair Cant with photographs by Graham Keen. This is a photographic record of visual poetry works exhibited at different sites during the Brighton Festival and a de facto catalogue for the event. Works by Claus Bremer, Eugen Gomringer, Ian Hamilton Finlay, Hansjörg Mayer, John Furnival, Edwin Morgan, Stephen Bann and Kenelm Cox. VG+.

...

15 May

Posted at 16:31h in Poor Old Tired Horse + Broadsides

Stoneypath; Wild Hawthorne Press, 1967
26 x 21cm, 12pp. The twenty-third number of Finlay’s poetry publication - here designed by John Furnival and contributions by Max Weber, Theodore Enslin, Pierre Albert-Birot (translated by Stephen Bann),Ian Hamilton Finlay, Eli Siegel, Gael Turnbull, George Mackay Brown, Edwin Morgan, and Ronald Johnson. This number reverting to the more common collection of poems by different artists. VG+ condition. Scarce.

...

21 Oct

Posted at 22:36h in Monographs & Essays

Wisconsin: The Beloit Poetry Journal, 1966
21 x 14cm, 40pp plus pictorial wrappers. Single number of this long running Chapbook which here dedicates itself to the concrete poets. Works by all the leading figures including Gomringer, de Campos, dsh, Gerhard Ruhm, Poierre Garnier, Edwin Morgan and Robert Lax amongst others are joined by Finlay - who has three page works including a schematic redrawing of his 4 Sails standing poems which as best we know is not reproduced elsewhere. The cover is also a glass work by Finlay - Rock Wave. VG+.

...

15 Jul

Posted at 13:39h in Poor Old Tired Horse + Broadsides

Ardgay, Ross-shire; Wild Hawthorne Press, 1965
26 x 21cm, 8pp. The fifteenth number of Finlay’s poetry publication with contributions by Margot Sandeman who provided drawings for the entire publication, George Mackay Brown, Eli Siegel, Edwin Morgan Ian Hamilton Finlay, Hamish McLaren, Theodore Enslin, Libby Houston and R.L. Cook. VG+ condition Scarce.

...

15 Apr

Posted at 13:32h in Poor Old Tired Horse + Broadsides

Edinburgh; Wild Hawthorne Press, 1964
26 x 21cm, 4pp + 1pp insert. The twelfth number of Finlay’s poetry publication with contributions by Jeffrey Steele, Paul de Vree, Mary Ellen Solt, Edwin Morgan, Dom Sylvester Houédard, J.F. Hendry, Ian Hamilton Finlay, Ernst Jandl and Lewis Carrol. By this number it was clear that POTH was mostly dedicated to the visual poetry movement and all contributions here display strong visual elements. VG+ condition
INSERT:
26 x 21cm, 1pp. "International avant-garde publications form" - items available for sale from Wild Hawthorne Press. Notes that "My Friend tree, 16 Once Published, Glasgow Beast, Concertina, Standing Poem" are out of sale." VG.

...

15 Nov

Posted at 11:43h in Poor Old Tired Horse + Broadsides

Edinburgh; Wild Hawthorne Press, 1963
26 x 21cm, 4pp. The ninth tenth of Finlay’s poetry publication with contributions by Robert Frame, Finlay himself, Eugene Gomringer, Anselan Hollo, Dom Sylvester Houedard, Robert Lax and Edwin Morgan. This number was printed in part red on white and was designated by Finlay as "the Concrete number" and all the poems included can be regarded as such. There is an abstract illustration by Robert Frame as an insert (printed b/w).
ALSO INSERTED:
FROM BURGOS JAIL.
29.5 x 19.5cm, 1pp. Folded. Promotional leaflet printed green and black on white published by Appeal for Amnesty in Spain: for a poetry book protesting fascist political prisoners under Franco.
This was the first issue to break with the previous size format - thereafter while most numbers were 26 x 21cm, some were smaller or even oblong. New printing techniques were being used also - the earliest numbers of POTH were laid up using pretty much only type - these slightly later numbers were pasted up and some typesetting also used (which allowed more flexibility in design and made reproducing visual and concrete works more easy (and accurate).
*********
One poem by Morgan on the back page was mistakenly corrected by the printer (Gaol was corrected to Goal) so each copy was hand altered to indicate the correct format - it should have been thus:

BRAZILIAN "FOOTBALL"
1958 - Goal! Goal! Goal!
1962 - Goal! Goal! Goal!
1964 - Gaol! Gaol! Gaol!

...

15 Aug

Posted at 11:18h in Poor Old Tired Horse + Broadsides

Edinburgh; Wild Hawthorne Press, 1963
30 x 21cm, 4pp. The eighth number of Finlay’s poetry publication with contributions by Ian Hamilton Finlay, Peter Stitt, Yury Pankratov (translated by Edwin Morgan), Andrei Voznesensky (translated by Edwin Morgan and Anselm Hollo), El Lissitsky, A. Khlebnikov (translated by J.F. Hendry and Edwin Morgan), Spike Hawkins, Jonathan Williams, Alexander Tvardovskii (translated by J.F. Hendry), and Mary Ellen Solt.
This was the first number of POTH to publish Finlay's own concrete poems - the work is Homage to Malevich - where a text block made up of combinations of the words LACK BLOCK and BLACK create a rectangle which is reflected in a drawing below (by Peter Stitt from Finlay's instructions). This work is published in other books by Finlay including Rapel. A significant section of the pages in this number are dedicated to Russian avant garde writers - mostly translated in part by Edwin Morgan and the number is dedicated to the memory of those writers including Malevich.

...

Shopping cart0
There are no products in the cart!
Continue shopping