My Book of Hours

Frans Masereel’s My Book of Hours is a wordless novel in woodcuts, published in 1922 and still in print today. This single, powerful volume uses 167 stark, expressionist images to chronicle a day in the life of an everyman, tracing his journey through pleasure, labor, and existential reflection. Masereel’s pioneering visual storytelling—a forerunner to the graphic novel—remains a landmark of the form, proving that narrative and emotion can be conveyed without a single word.