LYND WARD: MADMAN’S DRUM : A NOVEL IN WOODCUTS [1930].

Description

Ward Lynd – Madman’s Drum: A Novel in Woodcuts
First edition, New York 1930 | AP bibliophile binding | Very good condition.

First edition of the second of six famous “wordless novels” (wordless novels) by Lynd Ward (1905-1985) – one of the most prominent American graphic artists and illustrators of the 20th century, considered a forerunner of the graphic novel. It was published in October 1930 by the publishing house of Jonathan Cape and Harrison Smith in New York, in two versions: a trade and a limited edition (299 numbered and signed copies).
The story is told exclusively through 118 masterful woodcuts (wood engravings). The story begins with a scene in which a white slave trader kills an African to steal his demonic drum. Having returned home with a vast fortune, he gradually experiences the effects of the curse – his family falls into ruin, death and moral decline. As the Library of America notes, the work is “a multi-generational saga worthy of Faulkner, tracing the legacy of violence haunting a family whose commodity is human souls.”
Ward, inspired by the work of Flemish engraver Frans Masereel, created a series of graphic novels – including the famous Gods’ Man of 1929 – that had a huge impact on the development of adult comics. His work inspired Allen Ginsberg, among others, and Ward’s entire series of graphic novels was included in the Library of America canon. The book block is preserved in very good condition. The copy has been hand-bound in an exclusive natural leather binding by the Polish Antiquarian Bindery.
An item for collectors of first editions of graphic literature, lovers of American graphic art of the first half of the 20th century and bibliophiles looking for objects of documented historical value.

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