[BIOGRAPHY]. REID, Elizabeth. Mayne Reid: A Memoir of His Life. London: Ward & Downey, 12, York Street, Covent Garden, 1890. [6], 1-277, [3] pp., frontispiece portrait & 1 plate. 8vo (19.7 x 14.2 cm), original brown diapered cloth ruled and decorated in black, upper cover and spine gilt-lettered. Slightly shelf slanted. Interior very fine.

First edition. Tutorow 3670.

The passages on Reid’s participation in the Mexican-American War are drawn from his unpublished manuscript entitled, “Mexican War Memories”: “From these the following account in his own words is taken. The ink was scarcely dry on the last pages when he took to the bed from which he never more arose” (p. 28). Reid, a lieutenant in the 1st New York Volunteer Infantry, landed at Veracruz and went with the army to Mexico City, including participating in the assault on Chapultepec, which battle he describes in vigorous detail and at which he was badly wounded. Includes a poem on the assault of Monterrey.

On pp. 9-22 Reid tells of his friendship with Edgar Allan Poe while both were living in Philadelphia.

Reid (1818-1883) was something of an adventurer and a prolific writer of novels set in wild places, such as the American West. His 1851 novel, The Scalp Hunters, is dedicated to former Texas Navy commander Edwin Moore.