Ephemerus
Ephemerus is the 2017 artist’s book edition from the Marjorie S. Coffey Library Endowment Residency at the George A. Smathers Libraries at the University of Florida. The book was designed by H.M. Batsel during the semester-long residency in the fall of 2017. The book is inspired by Batsel’s research and study of occult and magical texts from the Harold and Mary Jean Hanson Rare Book Collection in the Special and Area Studies Collections Department.
When the apprentice of a learned magician falls ill, the magician must push to (and beyond) the boundaries of his power to prevent the apprentice's soul from slipping into an inescapable sinkhole, the Devil's Millhopper. A dark fairytale about the limitations of human ability and the inherent impermanence of human life, Ephemerus is an edition of 45 hand-bound, signed copies with three moving pages and two double-size fold-out pages.