Itās Fine Press Friday!
This week we present Oaxaca (wa-ha-ka) and the Saguaro (Sa-wah-row) Cactus (A Twice-told Tale) designed, written, illustrated, printed, and bound by American book artist Joe DāAmbrosio (1934-2009), printed in 1996 in a limited edition of 125 copies in Phoenix, Arizona. The book relates the legend of how and why Saguaro cacti are found only in the desert.
Caotlicue, goddess of the Earth and patron of life and death, strikes down a human whom the feathered serpent god Quetzalcoatl has fallen in love with, as she is human and he is a god. Quetzalcoatl creates the saguaro to mark the maiden's grave. The hunter Oaxaca encounters the saguaro and then the ghost of the maiden, who tells him that she can be released if the saguaro is removed. But Caotlicue tells him the maiden can be revived if Oaxaca eliminates the cactus and marries the maiden. To this end, Caotlicue sends Oaxaca on a quest for a daisy that will kill the cactus.
Along the way, Oaxaca meets and falls in love with another woman, Siouxi. They both return with the daisy, but Quetzalcoatl kills Oaxaca. Siouxi convinces the two gods to bring Oaxaca back to life and turn the maiden into a goddess in order to be with Quetzalcoatl. Brilliant solution! In return, Quetzalcoatl has the daisy attached to the Saguaro as a symbol of his power and commands that the cactus, the humans, and their descendants may never leave the desert.
This fantastical story also comes with commentary from the author about the lack of believability of such a tale, but he does tell the reader that they will have to āproceed on the assumption that there is some truth to [the] story.ā
The book is Illustrated throughout with color prints made from paper plates by DāAmbrosio, with hand-colored pop-up illustrations and 14 pt Antique type printed on two different colors of Confetti paper. Our copy is another donation from the collection of our late friend Dennis Bayuzick.
View otherĀ books from the collection of Dennis Bayuzick.
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ā Sarah S., Special Collections Graduate Intern











