Edinburgh; Wild Hawthorne Press, 1965
26 x 21cm, 4pp + 3 x 1pp inserts. The fourteenth number of Finlay’s poetry publication with contributions by Pierre-Albert Birot, Ian Hamilton Finlay, John Furnival, Pedro Xista, Mary Ellen Solt, and Heinz Gappmayr. VG+ condition Scarce.
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Edinburgh; Wild Hawthorne Press, 1965
26 x 21cm, 4pp + 2 x 1pp inserts. The thirteenth number of Finlay’s poetry publication with contributions by John Furnival, Mary Ellen Solt, Guillaume Apollinaire (translated by J.F. Hendry), Marvin Malone, Lorine Niedecker, Jerome Rothenberg, Ronald Johnson, Ian Hamilton Finlay, and Nicole Rabetaud. VG+ condition but slight mark on the back.
This is one of the earliest collaborations with Furnival who would be a close friend (until Finlay asked him to punch someone for him who he felt had slighted him and was about to arrive at Furnival's house from the train and the latter reasonably refused leading to a breach between them - a tale told to me by Furnival himsel) .
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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.
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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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Edinburgh; Wild Hawthorne Press, 1963
30 x 21cm, 4pp. The sixth number of Finlay’s monthly poetry publication with contributions by Bernard Kops, Larry Eigner, J.F. Hendry, Attila Jozsef (translated by J.F. Hendry and Edwin Morgan), Louis Zukofsky, Mary Ellen Solt, Günter Grass (translated by Jerome Rothenberg), Michael Shayer, Spike Hawkins, Marcelo Moura, Pedro Xista, and Augusto de Campos. This example is overall VG if slightly browned. Copies were sold for 9d each and were sometimes taken around University unions and departments or sold at poetry / literature evenings as well as by subscription.
Importantly this was the first number of POTH that contains a work that is clearly identifiable as a concrete or visual poem - the back cover has three works by Marcelo Moura, Pedro Xista, Augusto de Campos which Finlay notes are "Concrete Poems from Brazil". It appears it was the South American poets who first gained Finlay's attention and led him to primarily work in the milieu.
Some copies of POTH Nr 6 have a printed slip inserted announcing that "From now on, P.O.T.H. will contain graphic art as well as poetry" - although this copy does not have that slip - but that is a further indication that this was a pivotal number of the journal.
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