Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Ian Hamilton Finlay - poet, gardener and moralist - is also recognised as an artist of international stature whose works are in important collections in Britain, Europe and America. This book includes a generous selection from Finlay's published and environmental work and a biographical sketch of the artist.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

The first monograph on Finlay, this book thoroughly documents the work of the poet/gardener/moralist who gained fame in the 1960s as Britain's foremost concrete poet. Abrioux brings together a variety of Finlay's literary products in true primer form. Bann provides brief explanations for the uninitiated. Work is organized by concept rather than date. Short stories, poetry, folding cards, and booklets published by Finlay's Wild Hawthorn Press are extensively reproduced but lose some of their effect when reprinted several to a page. Since 1967 much of Finlay's work has focused on his garden at Stonypath, renamed Little Sparta after his battles with the Scottish Arts Council over property taxes. This project is given the most comprehensive coverage and justifies purchase. The garden includes references to war and violence in a neoclassical setting rivaling Stowe and Stourhead in beauty and conception. The color photographs provide a good sense of the gardens; nearly everything else is reproduced in black and white. Also included are a biographical sketch and a brief bibliography. Recommended for upper-division undergraduate students and for any library supporting a landscape architecture program.-S.M. Klos, University of Oregon