o1929 GM New York Trade edition

Lynd Ward’s first wordless novel, Gods’ Man, came out as a Trade edition in October, 1929, the same month as The Great Wall Street Crash of 1929. It went on to sell 20,000 copies with six printings in four years.

Gods’ Man New York Trade Edition – Electrotype

In an interview with Gil Williams from a special Lynd Ward issue of the Bibliognost: The Book Collector’s Little Magazine in 1976, Ward described this edition –

The trade edition was printed from electrotype. This is not a camera form of reproduction but a form that employs a mold into which first copper and then lead are poured. Thus, instead of approximating on film what has been put on paper, the block itself is reproduced by a casting process. The electrotype for this edition is believed to have been melted down in support of the war effort during the Second World War.

First edition, first printing;

• Publisher: Jonathan Cape and Harrison Smith, NY
• 8.25” x 5.5″
• The book is bound in pictorial paper over one quarter black cloth.
  • This pictoral paper cover was used for printings 1 through 5.
  • In printing #6 by Peter Smith the cover was black cloth with a small printed label on the front. #6 had a dust jacket that used the pictoral design on printing #1 to #5.
• Paper label with black lettering on the upper spine.
• top edge text block stained black.
• fore-edge machine deckle.
• Black endpapers
• Unpaginated.
• printed recto
• 144 images
• Some suggested a dust jacket only on a later printing ie a version with a dust jacket was issued later by the publisher, Peter Smith.

Various Printings

Peter Smith published 6th printing??

I have no confidence in the accuracy of the following – if you have information about the 6th printing please advise.

wn@wordlessnovels.com

I believe the 6th printing by Peter Smith is the first time a dust jacket was used. Note:

• this printing has a black cloth cover with a small label
• the pictoral coverings used on printings #1 to #5 has been used by Peter Smith for the front of the dust jacket.