Madman’s Drum: A Novel in Woodcuts
New York: Jonathan Cape and Harrison Smith, 1930. First trade edition (published simultaneously with signed limited edition). Hardcover. Unpaginated (258 pp). Printed and bound by Plimpton Press, Norwood, MA. Octavo. Black and white pictorial paper over boards. Paper label on spine. Lacking dust jacket. Very good minus. Rubbed edges and worn corners. Spine is cocked and with a small spot of discoloration near bottom edge. Binding is firm. Previous owner’s name inside. Interior otherwise clean with bright plates throughout. Item #64091
Madman’s Drum tells the story of a drum stolen from a murdered African during the slave trade and the curse this founding violence visits on generations of the slave runner’s family. Remarkably, the drama unfolds without a single word through a visual narrative of 118 wood engravings producing what Ward called a “novel in woodcuts.” In a traditional novel one sees the words and imagines the action. In a wordless novel, the converse: one sees the action and imagines the words. Madman’s Drum followed closely on the heels of Ward’s most famous wordless novel, Gods' Man (1929). Ward was to create six wordless novels by the end of the 1930’s and illustrated or designed covers for over 200 books across five decades of remarkable work. (Robert Dance. Illustrated by Lynd Ward. Norwich Vermont: Impermanent Press. 2015.).
Price: $200.00