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The inscription around the pool is taken from the "Poem on Nature" by Empedokles, the Presocriatic philosopher. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

Scope and Contents Amazon.com "It doesn't greatly matter to me whether I'm using plants or trees or stones or words or events," the artist, poet and gardener Ian Hamilton Finlay (1925-2006) once told an interviewer; "the impulse is always to make a coherent order out of things." Through a carefully edited selection from a voluminous correspondence, A Model of Order tracks the unique arc of Finlay's development, from poet writing in Scots dialect, to Concrete poet, toymaker and deviser of poems and inscriptions in glass, wood and stone, installed in parks and gardens. The title derives from Finlay's famous definition of Concrete poetry as "a model of order, even if set in a space which is full of doubt," a definition conceived in correspondence with poet Pierre Garnier. Poet and editor Thomas A. Clark's selection of Finlay's letters-to Louis Zukofsky, Robert Creeley and Ernst Jandl among others-explicates a rigorous and moral vision of the act of making." -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth...

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This book and the commission to Finlay were dedicated to Diana, Princess of Wales by the Board of Trustees and Staff of the Serpentine Gallery. The first fold-out page consists of the architectural layout and the second a print enumerating trees in the area arranged as a mandala dedicated to Diana in its center. The commission itself consisted of poetic engravings for eight benches and a tree-plaque placed in the meadow around the Sepentine. The captions on these objects are brief sentences adapted from writings, rendered in Latin and English, on Arcadia by Virgil. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

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The poem to be inscribed as "A Man of Letters R.L.S." on a formal stone with irregular edges is inscribed with a 'one-word poem' and set in the grass within a small grove of birch trees" -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

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This memorial to Robert Louis Stevenson takes the form of a sacred grove bounded by an ashlar wall on a half circle and by five silver birch trees (Betula pendula) across the diameter. At the foot of the tree trunk is a stone tree column base inscribed with R.L.S. and Stevenson's dates beneath (1850-1894). The site is a Stevenson sanctuary, an area for reflection that is half private and enclosed and half open to the world, just as are Stevenson's writings. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

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The print depicts a sailboat with yellow sails (rose) passing rocky shoals (rock). -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

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Gertrude Jekyll was a leading designer of gardens. The rose of Gertrude Stein's well known poem can also be identified as the tip of the old-fashioned garden watering can. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

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This is a proposal for a straight and level path of 78 clay bricks stamped with names of Virgil in place of the maker's name. The path is to be built indoors, on a level floor, or out-of-doors on any grass-covered level ground without shade. Finlay s walk upon but for the mind to follow. It leads from Carl Andre's brick compositions to an elegiac classicism. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

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Depicts a reproduction of Finlay's silkscreen poster/poem. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

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These preparatory drawings were intended for glass water-floating sculptures. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

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This poem on Apollo and Daphne is adapted from Greek mythology. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

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This poem dealing with Apollo and Daphne has been modified by Finlay to signify that Apollo is the revolutionary and Daphne the French republic. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

Also listed as "Ovid: Metamorphoses Book I, Fable XII."

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This is a preparatory drawing done by Keith Bailey under the supervision of Ian Hamilton Finlay for a slate sculpture. It depicts a fighter plane of World War II vintage with a trail of smoke during combat. Angels, Bandits and Saints refers to nicknames of fighter aircraft during that period. Contrails is the condensation trail emitted by jet aircraft exhaust. Contrails form when hot humid air from jet exhaust mixes with environmental air of low vapor pressure and low temperature. The mixing is a result of turbulence generated by the engine exhaust. A different version of this work in collaboration with Ron Costley was made into a medallion. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

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These three prints depict the individual figures in the print Apollo and Daphne: Design for a Wall, 1992. Apollo is depicted in a red symbolizing strength whereas Daphne is printed in camouflaged green indicating uncertainty of pastoral serenity. Laurus depicts a silhouette of a green tree. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

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Consists of a boxed set of nine papercard model gliders to be cut from the prints. Each glider has been embellished with a military decal of the countries that fought World War II along with the name of a garden plant that has been printed on the rear wing. This was published in an unlimited edition. William Allen comments: Outer box made by the cult small press publisher Brian Lane. Box contains bag of elastic bands, nine silkscreen prints of different Arcadian glider kits and an instruction booklet. "Each airplane is embellished with a military decal and the name of an appropriate common garden feature has been printed on the rear wing. When the airplanes have been constructed, they may either be displayed together as a squadron or, if you have access to a garden, they should be carefully placed in the relevant spot to act as markers or name tags and a pleasing focus of interest for when the flowers are out of season." -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.