Gods' Man is a wordless novel by American artist Lynd Ward (1905–1985) published in 1929. In 139 captionless woodblock prints it tells the Faustian story of an artist who signs away his soul for a magic paintbrush. Gods' Man was the first American wordless novel, and is seen as a precursor of, and influence on, the development of the graphic novel.Ward first encountered the wordless novel with Frans Masereel's The Sun (1919) while studying art in Germany in 1926. He returned to the ...

First published in 1929, public domain. The most important work of American artist and illustrator Lynd Ward, ''Gods' Man'' is a powerfully evocative novel, told entirely through woodcuts. Ward (1905–85), in employing the concept of the wordless pictorial narrative. Released the week of the 1929 stock market crash, Gods' Man presents the artist's struggles in a world characterized by both innocence and corruptions and can be considered a forerunner of the contemporary graphic novel, popula...

Gods' Man by Lynd Ward is a groundbreaking novel that immerses readers in a haunting exploration of ambition, integrity, and fate. This mesmerizing narrative unfolds exclusively through striking woodcut illustrations, evoking a timeless sense of mystery with each bold stroke. The story follows a gifted artist who strives to capture the essence of life in his work, ultimately facing dire choices between remaining true to his vision and succumbing to the allure of commercial success. As the ...

**Edited by Art Spiegelman, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel MausA wordless novel in woodcuts from Lynd Ward, a pioneering artist/novelist who was “an unmistakable soul-companion to . . . Frank Capra and John Steinbeck, but also Fritz Lang and Franz Kafka” (Jonathan Lethem)**From the Great Depression to WII, America’s first great graphic novelist bore witness to the roiling, dizzying national scene as both a master printmaker and a socially commit...

The second volume of collected woodcut graphic novels from a “brilliant and iconoclastic” author who has been compared to Frank Capra and John Steinbeck (Jonathan Lethem, New York Times–bestselling author of The Fortress of Solitude)In this, the second of two volumes collecting all his woodcut novels, The Library of America brings together Lynd Ward’s three later books, two of them brief, the visual equivalent of chamber music, the other his longe...

A classic story and winner of the Caldecott Medal.Johnny hunts for the biggest bear in the forest, but comes home with a little bear—that grows and grows and grows....

Spice and the Devil's Cave, Ferdinand Magellan, Vasco da Gama, and other fifteenth-century adventurers spring to life in this thrilling tale of the competition between Portugal and the Venetian Republic to discover an all-sea trade route leading to the spices of India. In the Lisbon workshop of banker and navigation enthusiast Abel Zakuto, a group of intrepid explorers gather to discuss the possibility of finding a way around the stormy tip of Africa — the Devil's Cave.

This book offers the first multidisciplinary analysis of the "wordless novels" of American woodcut artist and illustrator Lynd Ward (1905–1985), who has been enormously influential in the development of the contemporary graphic novel. The study examines his six pictorial novels, each part of an evolving experiment in a new form of visual narrative that offers a keen intervention in the cultural and sexual politics of the 1930s. The novels form a discrete group – much like Beethoven’s piano...

This Top Five Classics illustrated edition of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein includes:• All 65 of Lynd Ward's hauntingly beautiful, moody, and subtly erotic woodcut illustrations from his 1934 edition• The unabridged 1831 text of the popular revised edition by Mary Shelley• A helpful introduction and author bioFrankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley is the foundational text of both the horro...

Victor Frankenstein thinks he has found the secret of life. He takes parts from dead people and builds a new ‘man’. But this monster is so big and frightening that everyone runs away from him – even Frankenstein himself! The monster is like an enormous baby who needs love. But nobody gives him love, and soon he learns to hate. And, because he is so strong, the next thing he learns is how to kill…

When young Red Magill sets sail from Portugal in the early 16th century, he carries more than just dreams of adventure—he bears the weight of a dangerous mission that could reshape the spice trade forever. The treacherous waters around the Cape of Good Hope, known ominously as the Devil's Cave, have claimed countless ships and brave souls. But Red must navigate these deadly seas to reach the fabled Spice Islands, where fortunes are made and empires are built on precious cargoes of pepper, ...

Mabel Robinson's delightful coming-of-age story won a Newbery Honor in 1938 and garnered extraordinary praise from critics and readers alike.Born and raised on Bright Island off the Maine coast, Thankful Curtis is more like her sea captain grandfather than any of her older brothers are. Nothing suits her better than sailing and helping her father with the farm. But when her dreaded sisters-in-law suggest that Thankful get some proper schooling on the mainland, the wind is knocked f...