Ian Hamilton Finlay. The Battle of Little Sparta [ephemera]

Ian Hamilton Finlay made this work on the first anniversary of what he termed, The Battle of Little Sparta, which took place on the 4th of February 1983 at his property, Stonypath Farm, near Edinburgh, when the sheriff officer of Strathclyde regional council attempted to seize works of art from the property in lieu of unpaid building rates. “The council categorised the structure, originally a barn, as an art gallery, whereas Finlay claimed it was a garden temple. The garden was, in Finlay’s words, “a place apart, if you like, a religious place", and the building in question "developed naturally into one which performs the normal functions of temples in classical gardens". The sheriff officer, acting in the role of bailiff, was confronted by a group of Finlay's supporters known as the Saint-Just Vigilantes, after the French revolutionary remembered for the "spartan" nature of his philosophy.” Stonypath farm was henceforth known as Little Sparta. The ongoing dispute became the central concern of Finlay’s later work. – Text from James Campbell’s article ‘Avant Gardener’ in The Guardian, Saturday May 31, 2003

Title: The Battle of Little Sparta [ephemera]
Author: Ian Hamilton Finlay
Publisher: The Wild Hawthorn Press, Scotland
Format: Four sheets, approx. 8" x 5", printed in red on one side only: (a) drawing of medal with commentary on the flute/machine-gun pun; (b) drawing of Terror/Virtue medal with commentary; (c) price list and order form; (d) extract from a news story by Patrick Eyres and proposal for a monument 'of heroic proportions' towards which contributions are invited. Housed in the original envelope posted from Ian Hamilton Finlay to Alastair Grieve postmarked 4 February 1984.
Pages: 4
Condition: Fine.
Provenance: The library of art historian Dr Alastair Grieve
Stock Number: RB02027