Mein Stundenbuch: 165 Holzschnitte
Munchen [Munich]: Kurt Wolff, 1927. Very Good. Item #48721
Munchen [Munich]: Kurt Wolff, 1927. Later printing. Small quarto (16 cm); 38,[1], [170]pp+2ads; woodblock illus. Boards in tan paper with black stamping. Generally soiled with mild wear to extremities but binding firm; interior clean. Previous owner pen to first free endsheet, bought in Munich for someone in Philadelphia. A Very Good copy of Masereel's wordless novel.
Originally published in 1919, the illustrations follow an "everyman" who enters the city, falls in love with a sex worker who rejects him, and eventually returns to nature where he dies, his skeletal self walking the cosmos in the last image. His works, many of which were wordless novels, were vastly popular in Germany, published consistently throughout the 20s. They are now viewed as a precursor to the graphic novel.
Price: $250.00