Hesiod: An Epigram on the Common Fisheries Policy

ArtistDesigned/Sent by Ian Hamilton Finlay (Nassau, Bahamas, 1925 - 2006)

RecipientReceived by Joyce Laing (Aberdeen, Scotland, 1939 - 2022)

PrinterPrinted by Wild Hawthorn Press (founded 1961)

Date1996

Object NameCard

Mediumcard, ink

ClassificationsPrints

DimensionsPaper Size: 9.9 x 13.9cm

AcquisitionPresented in 2010 by Joyce Laing OBE.

LocationView by Appointment - Aberdeen Treasure Hub

Object numberABDAG017573

About MeCard designed by Ian Hamilton Finlay and printed on blue card by the Wild Hawthorn Press. It is addressed to Joyce Laing with a 25p affixed on the reverse. The front of the card features the following text:

Hesiod: An Epigram on the Common Fisheries Policy

All that we did not want to catch, we kept, and all that
we wanted to take home we throw over the side.

XVII in The Epigrams of Homer. The original (according to Loeb) reads:
''All that we caught we left behind, and all that we did not catch we
carry home'' - seemingly a reference to lice.

Ian Hamilton Finlay. Wild Howthorn Press, Little Sparta

This card is part of an archive that belonged to Joyce Laing, OBE. The artist, Ian Hamilton Finlay, was a personal friend and sent her an example of each new poem print and multiple as it was made.