Edwin Morgan - Unoriginal Sins

LETTER FROM JOHN FURNIVAL TO PAUL ROBERTSON ABOUT WORKING WITH FINLAY. 2003.

paul robertson — Mon, 22 Sep 2003 09:00:27 +0000

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IMPENDING NAVIGATION BRIGHT. A CATCH OF POEMS ABOUT THE SHIPPING FORECAST. 1994. ONE OF 100 NUMBERED COPIES.

paul robertson — Fri, 22 Apr 1994 08:07:19 +0000

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EVENING WILL COME THEY WILL SEW THE BLUE SAIL. 1991.

paul robertson — Fri, 02 Aug 1991 08:57:55 +0000

Edinburgh: Fruit Market Gallery, 1991

30 x 10.6cm, 58pp. Exhibition catalogue for the retrospective of Finlay during the 11991 Edinburgh festival. Long essay by Edwin Morgan which also has a Spanish translation. Thirteen works reproduced in colour. VG+.

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WALKING THROUGH SEAWEED/THE ESTATE HUNTERS IN NEW ENGLISH DRAMATISTS 14. 1970.

paul robertson — Mon, 04 May 1970 21:05:17 +0000

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+

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POTH (POOR OLD TIRED HORSE) NR 25 ONE WORD POEMS. 1967.

paul robertson — Sun, 15 Oct 1967 15:35:25 +0000

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

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POTH (POOR OLD TIRED HORSE) NR 24 . 1967. CONCRETE POETRY AT THE BRIGHTON (’67) FESTIVAL

paul robertson — Sat, 15 Jul 1967 15:33:46 +0000

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+.

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POTH (POOR OLD TIRED HORSE) NR 23 DESIGNATED AS “TEAPOTH 23”. 1967. DESIGNED BY JOHN FURNIVAL.

paul robertson — Mon, 15 May 1967 15:31:09 +0000

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.

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THE BELOIT POETRY JOURNAL. CONCRETE POETRY. 1966

paul robertson — Fri, 21 Oct 1966 21:36:27 +0000

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, Pierre 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 far as we know is not reproduced elsewhere. The cover is also a glass work by Finlay - Rock Wave. VG+.

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POTH (POOR OLD TIRED HORSE) NR 15. 1965.

paul robertson — Thu, 15 Jul 1965 12:39:27 +0000

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.

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POTH (POOR OLD TIRED HORSE) NR 12. 1964.

paul robertson — Wed, 15 Apr 1964 12:32:22 +0000

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,

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POTH (POOR OLD TIRED HORSE) NR 10. 1963.

paul robertson — Fri, 15 Nov 1963 11:43:58 +0000

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!

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POTH (POOR OLD TIRED HORSE) NR 8. 1963. WITH ONE OF FINLAY’S EARLIEST CONCRETE POEMS.

paul robertson — Thu, 15 Aug 1963 10:18:40 +0000

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.

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