Ron Costley - Unoriginal Sins

LITTLE SPARTA. AN INTRODUCTION TO THE GARDEN OF IAN HAMILTON FINLAY. 2009.

paul robertson — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 17:19:08 +0000

Little Sparta: Little Sparta Trust, 2009

21 x 15cm, 16pp plus card covers and pictorial dust-jacket. A guide to Finlay;s garden and grounds written by Jessie Sheeler with drawings by Ron Costley. A nice and insightful publication. VG+.

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PROEM 2. 1998. ONE OF ONLY 150 EXAMPLES.

paul robertson — Sun, 27 Sep 1998 16:18:52 +0000

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1998

88 x 63cm, black silkscreen on white paper - the image by Ron Costley is of the prow of a boat with the usual ballast level markings in the form of Roman numerals staggered to indicate the leading edge of the ship. At the bottom is the word PROEM in similar typography. A proem is a preface or preamble to a book or speech - thus the drawing of the front of the boat is a preamble to the larger work - the vessel.
This is one of a pair of prints both drawn by Costley - the other being a line drawing of the boat's prow with the same title. Only 150 examples of each were printed. VG+.

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PROEM. 1997.

paul robertson — Mon, 28 Jul 1997 09:23:28 +0000

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1997

14.8 x 10.5cm, 2pp, card printed with a drawing by Ron Costley of the front of a boat that is labelled PROEM. The word is similar to POEM and PROW: and there is a stylish beauty to the shape of the front of the ship. However there are other references here to the term "Proem" - firstly to that term invented by El Lissitzky used to refer to his constructivist style based on Malevich's supremacism - and the other meaning - a preface or preamble to a book or speech (the prow being the foremost part of the ship - a physical preamble). The title hence refers all of these different simultaneous meanings. VG+.

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FOUR TREES. 1994.

paul robertson — Sun, 16 Oct 1994 17:58:38 +0000

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d. (1994)
10 x 6.4cm, 16pp plus card covers with French folds. Artist book with four reproductions of watercolours by Ron Costley of four trees - a bonsai tree, an apple tree, a lemon tree and a Christmas tree. On the inner back french fold Finlay lists four names - that of G. Couthon (the French revolutionary leader who has a cripple and had to live in a specially designed wheelchair), Jean-Jacques Rousseau (who grew fruit trees in his orchard), Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (who wrote the poem "The land where the lemon trees bloom..") and Caspar David Friedrich (who painted naked fir trees in one of his most famous works). Hence each painting reflected some aspect of their allotted historical person.
One of Finlay's most beautiful books. VG+.

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FiGLEAF. 1992. WITH HANDWRITTEN NOTE BY IAN HAMILTON FINLAY TO JOHN STATHATOS.

paul robertson — Fri, 09 Oct 1992 15:57:19 +0000

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1992

10.4 x 14.8cm, 2pp. A photograph by Ron Costley show a relief on a wall that has the sculpted word FiGLEAF over which leaves have been painted. In front of that the photograph shows more leaves but real this time. Hence the work about censorship is itself censored. Meta. VG+.

This example of the card has a short signed note in blue ink from Finlay to John Stathatos giving the latter Stuart Mill's address.

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A PROPOSAL FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF DURHAM AT THE BOTANIC GARDENS. 1992.

paul robertson — Mon, 15 Jun 1992 16:15:48 +0000

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MEMORY. 1987.

paul robertson — Wed, 25 Nov 1987 21:28:53 +0000

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1987

7.5 x 7.5cm, 4pp artist's card with a drawing of an arrow wrapping around the card and overprinted with a poem:

MEMORY

Arrow

which never

forgets

Time moves only in one direction like an arrow but one might also suggest a wound or mark from an arrow is somewhat irreversible. VG+.

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LACONIC. 1987.

paul robertson — Sun, 28 Jun 1987 17:47:59 +0000

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1987

76 x 58cm, red on white silkscreen print. The line drawing of a guillotine blade has the word LACONIC on it. A laconic person is someone who uses few words - and the falling of a guillotine not only ends a conversation but also the coversationalist. The red is blood of course.
The image we have used here is from a publication - the print we hold is framed in wood and glass and hard to image without reflections - but the work is in VG+ condition.

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REED-PIPE. 1985.

paul robertson — Wed, 05 Jun 1985 17:34:51 +0000

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1985

5.8 x 20.5cm, 1pp card printed black and red on cream with a drawing of a machine gun by Ron Costley which has holes in the barrel (to prevent over heating). Finlay has used this motif in prints and elsewhere to reflect the pan-pipes of the god Apollo.

Additional are several epigrams from the poet's "More Detached Sentences" (on gardening) and a note: "Owing to practical necessities of Little Sparta's War with Strathclyde Region, the Garden and Garden Temple are presently closed to the public. The provisional government of Little Sparta is revolutionary until the peace.".

This card is dated 1986 in both the flawed Murray Catalogue Raisonne and the Wild Hawthorn Press' own online listing of artist's cards - it is however clearly 1985 - not only printed on the card but additionally this example is hand addressed by Finlay to Harry Warschauer (and with a red rubber stamp impression - STRATHCLYDE REGION DER UNTERGANG DES ABENDLANDES) and the franking to the stamp is clearly dated "5 June 1985". We have restored this item to the correct date in this catalogue. VG+.

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HOMAGE A DAVID (2). 1983.

paul robertson — Mon, 30 May 1983 08:31:14 +0000

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1983

20.7 x 10cm, 1pp. A cut-out drawing by Ron Costley of a republican army drum such as played by the martyred Viala. The boy's name is incorporated into the diagonal patterning around the sides - the name having letter shapes that match that well. VIVE LA REPUBLIQUIE!

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UNTITLED (A COLUMN A DAY). 1983.

paul robertson — Mon, 02 May 1983 09:40:38 +0000

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1983
20.5 x 10.4cm, 4pp (folding from the top). A cut-out drawing by Nicholas Sloan of a section of a tree trunk with an arrow piercing the wood allowing a three-dimensional paper sculpture to be made. The final image reminds one of Saint Sebastian martyred because of his supposed defence of early Christians. The attacks on Finlay at this time probably made him feel like a martyr but this image could also be read as a symbol of the garden of Little Spartas as being under attack. The title of the card is not included and the title here we have taken from Murray's catalogue raisonne although there is no reason to be sure it is correct. VG+.

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BLUEWATERSBARK. 1979.

paul robertson — Fri, 14 Sep 1979 21:27:15 +0000

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d. (1979)

7.8 x 24cm, 4pp (asymmetric fold). The typography by Ron Costley sets the three words together to form an unitary text. Elsewhere Finlay has used these exact trio of words together to describe the shallow fast moving water of a stream - but now the white on blue lettering gives a different meaning - the bark or outer layer here is the foam on the top of waves with the (deep) blue water beneath it. A visual poem.
Finlay also produced a much larger silkscreen print of this werk.

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