Reid, T Mayne
Entry updated 12 August 2018. Tagged: Author.
(1818-1883) Irish-born UK author, in the US 1840-1849 and 1867-1870, setting several of his most successful novels there, including The Headless Horseman: A Strange Tale of Texas (March 1865-October 1866 Bentley's Magazine; 1866 2vols). One of the earliest examples of the Western – with Comanches on the warpath, shoot-outs, ambushes, brawls, lynchings, and a nearly invulnerable hero sporting a secret identity – Headless Horseman is also a ghost story, but though the past haunts the plot, and the venue is harshly mysterious, there is no Lost Race element. Reid's other novels of some interest – The White Chief: A Legend of North Mexico (1855 3vols) and Odd People: Being a Popular Description of Singular Races of Man (1860) – are Lost Race tales involving the survival of Native American civilizations. The Desert Home (1852) is a nonfantastic Robinsonade in which the desert serves for ocean. [JC]
Captain Thomas Mayne Reid
born Ballyroney, County Down, Ireland: 4 April 1818
died London: 22 October 1883
works
- The White Chief: A Legend of North Mexico (London: C H Clarke, 1855) [published in three volumes: hb/]
- Odd People: Being a Popular Description of Singular Races of Man (London: George Routledge, 1860) [hb/]
- The Headless Horseman: A Strange Tale of Texas (London: Richard Bentley, 1866) [published in two volumes: first appeared March 1865-October 1866 Bentley's Magazine: hb/]
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