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Madman's Drum: A Novel in Woodcuts [Signed, Numbered]

Madman's Drum: A Novel in Woodcuts [Signed, Numbered]

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Madman's Drum: A Novel in Woodcuts [Signed, Numbered]

by Ward, Lynd

  • Used
  • near fine
  • Hardcover
  • Signed
  • first
Condition
Near fine
Seller
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Portland, Oregon, United States
Item Price
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About This Item

New York: Jonathan Cape and Harrison Smith, 1930. First Edition. Hardcover. Near fine. Lynd Ward's second wordless novel; this being one of 309 copies printed from the original wood blocks (essentially, this is a bound volume of 128 original wood engravings by Lynd Ward). Like Ward's other proto-graphic novels, he explores social-realist themes here, incorporating that with tropes from 19th century horror novels. The story begins with a white slave trader killing an African in order to steal his drum. The enslaver returns home to great prosperity, but gradually the curse of the drum takes hold and the characters become dissolute, die, are hanged, and are forced into prostitution. One even becomes a writer (the horror!).

The story is anachronistic, seemingly set during the slave trading era, but with Communists and large telescope observatories.

132 leaves, including two blanks (260 printed pages, with all the wood engravings printed on only the front (recto) of the sheets. First edition (first printing). A very near fine copy in a worn and split slipcase. This is copy 209 of 309 printed from the original blocks and signed by Ward.

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Details

Bookseller
Downtown Brown Books, ABAA US (US)
Bookseller's Inventory #
108836
Title
Madman's Drum: A Novel in Woodcuts [Signed, Numbered]
Author
Ward, Lynd
Format/Binding
Hardcover
Book Condition
Used - Near fine
Quantity Available
1
Edition
First Edition
Publisher
Jonathan Cape and Harrison Smith
Place of Publication
New York
Date Published
1930
Weight
0.00 lbs
Keywords
list97 HolidayVBF23

Terms of Sale

Downtown Brown Books, ABAA

All items are guaranteed as described and may be returned within 30 days for a refund. If the item arrives damaged or does not match the description, we'll refund the purchase price plus shipping.

About the Seller

Downtown Brown Books, ABAA

Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Biblio member since 2019
Portland, Oregon

About Downtown Brown Books, ABAA

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Glossary

Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:

Fine
A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
First Edition
In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
Leaves
Very generally, "leaves" refers to the pages of a book, as in the common phrase, "loose-leaf pages." A leaf is a single sheet...

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