Madman's Drum: A Novel in Woodcuts

New York : Jonathan Cape Harrison Smith, 1930. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good +. 8vo. Lynd Ward. Madman's Drum is the author's second of six wordless novels. In art deco style, Ward uses woodcut illustrations only to tell the story of tragedy and ultimate insanity that befalls a slave trader after stealing a demon-faced drum from Africa. Ward's best-known books are his first wordless novel, "God's Man", and his children's story, "The Biggest Bear", for which he won a Caldecott for this children's story. It is said that Ward's wordless novels had a great influence on the development of the graphic novel. Ward was a son of a Methodist minister and political organizer / radical social activist Harry F. Ward, the first chairman of the ACLU when it was founded in 1920. (Wikipedia). Boards are covered in a printed paper depicting repeated African mask-like characters, stars and mountains in black and off white. Black cloth spine bears an illustrated paper label with black text. Black top stain. Deckled foredge and foot. Jet black endpapers. Black and white woodcut plates are printed on the recto side only, against an off white paper. Unpaginated. Mild rubbing and external wear with a 1 inch rub through tear at the bottom corner of the back cover. Spine label is slightly lifting at the bottom left corner. Completely unmarked. Leaves have lightly and evenly toned. Illustrations are bold, dark, and magnificent. A wonderful copy. Full refund if not satisfied.