Recapping last week: In the decade from 1931 to 1940, B. Traven published a series of six books known as his Jungle Novels: Government (1931), The Carreta (aka The Cart) (1931), March to the Monteria (aka March To Caobaland) (1933), Trozas (1936), The Rebellion of the Hanged (1936), and A General from the Jungle (1940). The Jungle novels are a series of interconnected stories about the struggles of the Indigenous in Chiapas at the end of the 19th Century, and how their rebellion starts the Mexican Revolution. This week let’s take a look at the second three novels, which includes my favorite, The Rebellion of the Hanged.
The Rebellion of the Hanged is a great book, one of the most “action-packed” of the Jungle novels. Although maybe not as action-filled as you’d think based on the great over-the-top cover from a 60s/70s French edition above. Below, the cover on the left is my favorite, from Verlag Volk und Welt in Berlin (all their Jungle novel covers are great). The next one is the current Ivan R. Dee version, and to the right is another often seen paperback, published by Allison & Busby (and the edition I have):
To the left, the 1952 UK edition published by Robert Hale in London; center, the 1952 US edition by Knopf in NY; to the right a nice embossed US hardcover from the 50s or 60s (The Kate Sharpley Library has one of these)
To the left, a Hill & Wang paperback from the 70s, in the middle, an ugly German paperback (one of a whole series of equally ugly Traven covers by Diogenes Verlag, all with the rounded frame, italic type, and photo/illustration), and to the right, a recent Italian edition:
For some reason Trozas is the book I had the most difficulty finding covers for. There is the Ivan R. Dee edition (which I have in hardback), and an early (likely first) German edition published by Buchergilde Gutenberg:
The final book in the series is A General in the Jungle. There’s some great covers for this one…here are a couple dustjackets for hardback editions (Hill & Wang, 1972 on the left; Hale, 1954 on the right):
A couple German editions:
and finally the Ivan R. Dee and Hill & Wang (1975) paperbacks:
