Threshold

By Casey Gardner
Berkeley, California: Set in Motion Press, 2012. Edition of 50.

Casey Gardner: "Threshold is a book about approaching and moving through transformation. The piece explores several aspects of change and revolves around a story inspired by Ovid's tale of Daphne and Apollo in The Metamorphosis. Daphne is a nymph with a passion for hunting; she is pursued by Apollo, the god of sunlight, music, poetry, and healing. His Delphic edict is gnothi seauton, know yourself. Despite all his interesting traits, Daphne prefers her freedom. He chases her through the forest and rather than be caught, she pleas for a transformation and is turned into a laurel tree. (Apollo makes the laurel his sacred symbol.)

"Whenever I read Ovid's tale or see Bernini's Baroque sculpture of Daphne's transformation, I wonder, why a tree, so I wrote the story about her to explore this question. It's tragic to see the wild huntress rooted to the earth, yet I find her grace and strength inspiring as she reaches and grows into the sky. I admire her determination to remain free, yet her call for change had an unexpected outcome, as do many thresholds we cross.

"The book also features four Mythological Meta-Muses of Flux. These are muses who embody a threshold between states of being; they are muses of the imagination who assist in creative journeys of transformation. I've given them names based on Greek roots: Euthalia, Eupraxia, Eutropia, and Euphemia."
 
5.75 x 11.5" closed, opens to 11.5 x 11.5"; Turkish map fold book structure. Handbound, letterpress printed. Materials: Rives Heavyweight and Rives BFK, Elephant Hide paper, and book cloth. Bound in paper-covered boards with typographic paper title on front board and illustrated colophon on back board.