The Headless Horseman

The British writer Thomas Mayne Reid (1818–1883) was born in a small village in Northern Ireland. His father, a Presbyterian minister, wanted his son to continue the family tradition and dedicate himself to the service of the church, so he sent him to the Royal Academic Institute of Belfast. There, the young man studied for four years, after which, however, he changed his mind about becoming a clergy and left the educational institution without a diploma. Mayne Reid decided to leave his native Ireland and in 1839 stepped off a ship in Louisiana - a state in the southern United States. Traveling across America, he, in order to make a living, tried his hand as a sales agent, teacher, actor, and journalist. In 1843, Mayne Reid moved to Philadelphia, where he began his friendship with writer Edgar Allan Poe and where Reid started publishing his first works. Three years later, the Mexican-American War broke out, and Reid went to the front as part of a volunteer regiment. During the famous battle of Chapultepec, which ultimately brought victory to the US troops, Reid suffered a severe wound that affected him for the rest of his life. He left military service with the rank of officer and returned to Great Britain in 1849. His impressions from the events he witnessed during the war with the Mexican army were reflected in his first novel “The Rifle Rangers,” published in London in 1850. A few years later, Reid got married, settled in England, and dedicated himself to writing. From his memories of his tumultuous youth, filled with dangers and adventures, Mayne Reid repeatedly drew plots for his works. His novels feature thrilling journeys, risky adventures, deadly battles, rivalries for love, and struggles for ideals. Readers received his works with enthusiasm. However, the novel “The Headless Horseman” brought Reid the greatest fame.

The novel “The Headless Horseman,” which glorified its author, began to be published in parts in 1865, and a year later it was released as a separate book. In this novel, love, jealousy, despair, nobility, and a thirst for revenge intertwine. The beautiful Louise Poindexter gives her heart to the fearless mustanger, inadvertently setting off a chain of fatal events. Meanwhile, a mysterious murder occurs in the vast expanses of Texas, and the locals tremble with horror as they catch sight of the distant, mysterious figure of the silent horseman. This edition provides the first complete translation of the novel into Russian, performed by Alexander Yakovlevich Seredin (1961). The remarkable illustrations for the text were created by the Soviet book graphic artist and poster designer Nikolai Mikhailovich Kochergin (1897–1974).