Madman's Drum

([November] 1930)

[no title indexed] (Table of Contents: 1)

blank page(s) / 5 pages (report information)

[no title indexed] (Table of Contents: 2)

credits, title page / 4 pages (report information)

Letters

Lynd Ward ?

First Line of Dialogue or Text

Madman's Drum

Indexer Notes

Half-title page, title page, front matter

Madman's Drum (Table of Contents: 3)

comic story / 128 pages (report information)

Script

Lynd Ward (credited)

Pencils

Lynd Ward (woodcut) (credited)

Inks

Lynd Ward (woodcut) (credited)

Genre

fantasy-supernatural

Characters

Slaver; African; slaver's son [Madman]; piper; Madman's wife; Madman's son; Madman's daughter; judge; informer; young man

Synopsis

A slaver brings an African's drum home as a trophy. When his son plays the drum, the father sets him to books. As others roister or labor the young man [Madman] becomes expert in many fields, finally taking a wife. Through his life, a mysterious piper appears. As Madman's son grows he agitates for communism. When authorities frame the young man Madman proves the lad's innocence, but the laughing judges have already hanged him. Madman's daughter becomes enamored of a young man who treats her vilely, leading to her death. Madman reclaims his drum and walks away with the piper.

Reprints

• in Madman's Drum: A Novel in Woodcuts (Jonathan Cape, 1930 series) (1930)
• in Storyteller Without Words: The Wood Engravings of Lynd Ward (Harry N. Abrams, 1974 series) (1974)
• in Mad Man's Drum: A Novel in Woodcuts (Dover Publications, 2005 series) (2005)
• in Lynd Ward[:] Gods' Man * Madman's Drum * Wild Pilgrimage (The Library of America, 2010 series) (2010)
• in Madman's Drum: A Novel in Woodcuts (Kokusho Kankokai, 2002)

Keywords

Engraving; pantomime; woodcut; wordless

[no title indexed] (Table of Contents: 4)

blank page(s) / 134 pages (report information)

Indexer Notes

A blank page backing each of the 128 engravings, plus five to end the book and the blank back cover.