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= Talbot_Mundy =
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Introduction
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Talbot Mundy (born William Lancaster Gribbon, 23 April 1879 - 5 August
1940) was an English writer of adventure fiction. Based for most of
his life in the United States, he also wrote under the pseudonym of
Walter Galt. Best known as the author of 'King of the Khyber Rifles'
and the Jimgrim series, much of his work was published in pulp
magazines.
Mundy was born to a conservative middle-class family in Hammersmith,
London. Educated at Rugby School, he left with no qualifications and
moved to British India, where he worked in administration and then
journalism. He relocated to East Africa, where he worked as an ivory
poacher and then as the town clerk of Kisumu. In 1909 he moved to New
York City where he lived in poverty. A friend encouraged him to start
writing about his life experiences, and he sold his first short story
to Frank Munsey's magazine, 'The Scrap Book', in 1911. He soon began
selling short stories and non-fiction articles to a variety of pulp
magazines, such as 'Argosy', 'Cavalier', and 'Adventure'. In 1914
Mundy published his first novel, 'Rung Ho!', soon followed by 'The
Winds of the World' and 'King of the Khyber Rifles', all of which were
set in British India and drew upon his own experiences. Critically
acclaimed, they were published in both the U.S. and U.K.
Becoming a U.S. citizen, in 1918 he joined the Christian Science new
religious movement, and with them moved to Jerusalem to establish the
city's first English-language newspaper. Returning to the U.S. in
1920, he began writing the Jimgrim series and saw the first film
adaptations of his stories. Spending time at the Theosophical
community of Lomaland in San Diego, California, he became a friend of
Katherine Tingley and embraced Theosophy. Many of his novels produced
in the coming years, most notably 'Om: The Secret of Ahbor Valley' and
'The Devil's Guard', reflected his Theosophical beliefs. He also
involved himself in various failed business ventures, including an oil
drilling operation in Tijuana, Mexico. During the Great Depression he
supplemented his literary income by writing scripts for the radio
series 'Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy'. He suffered from
diabetes, eventually dying of complications.
During Mundy's career his work was often compared with that of his
more commercially successful contemporaries, H. Rider Haggard and
Rudyard Kipling. Like them he expressed a positive interest in Asian
religion and philosophy, although unlike them he adopted an
anti-colonialist stance. His work has been cited as an influence on a
variety of later science-fiction and fantasy writers, and he has been
the subject of two biographies.
Childhood: 1879–99
==========================
Mundy was born as William Lancaster Gribbon on 23 April 1879 at his
parental home of 59 Milson Road, Hammersmith in West London. The
following month he was baptised into the Anglican Church at the local
St. Matthews Church. His father, Walter Galt Gribbon (1845–95), had
been born in Leeds, Yorkshire as the son of a porcelain and glass
merchant. Gribbon had studied at Oxford University's St. John's
College and then trained as a barrister before relocating to Swansea,
where he first worked as a school teacher and then an accountant.
After his first wife's death, he married Mundy's mother, Margaret
Lancaster, in Nantyglo in July 1878. A member of an English family
based in Wales, she was the sister of the politician John Lancaster.
After a honeymoon in Ilfracombe, Devon, the newly married couple moved
to Hammersmith, where Mundy was their first child. They would have
three further children: Walter Harold (b. 1881), Agnes Margaret (b.
1882), and Florence Mary (c.1883), although the latter died in
infancy. In 1883 the family moved to nearby Norbiton, although within
a few years had moved out of London to Kingston Hill, Surrey.
Mundy was raised into a conservative middle-class Victorian milieu.
His father owned a successful accountancy business and was director of
the Woking Water and Gas Company, as well as being an active member of
the Conservative Party and Primrose League. He was also a devout
Anglican, serving as warden at St. Luke's Church. The family went on
summer holidays to southern coastal towns such as Hythe, Sandgate, and
Charmouth, with Mundy also spending time visiting relatives in
Bardney, Lincolnshire. He attended Grove House, a preparatory school
in Guildford, Surrey, before receiving a scholarship to attend Rugby
School, where he arrived in September 1893.
In 1895 his father died of a brain hemorrhage, and Mundy henceforth
became increasingly rebellious. He left Rugby School without any
qualifications in December 1895; in later years he recalled bad
memories of the institution, comparing it to "prisons run by sadists".
With Mundy unable to go to university, his mother hoped that he might
enter the Anglican clergy. He worked briefly for a newspaper in
London, although the firm closed shortly after. He left England and
moved to Quedlinburg in northern Germany with his pet fox terrier. He
didn't speak German but secured work as an assistant driver towing
vans for a circus; after a colleague drunkenly killed his dog he left
the job. Back in England, he worked in farming and estate management
for his uncle in Lincolnshire, describing this lifestyle as "'High
Farming,' high church and old port and all that went with that life –
pheasant shooting, fox-hunting and so on."
India and East Africa: 1899–1909
========================================
Talbot's accounts of the following years are unreliable, tainted by
his own fictionalised claims about his activities. In March 1899 he
sailed aboard the 'Caledonia' to Bombay in British India, where he had
secured an administrative job in a famine relief program based in the
native state of Baroda. There he purchased a horse and became a fan of
pig-sticking, a form of boar hunting.
After suffering a bout of malaria he returned to Britain in April
1900. In later years he claimed that during this period he had fought
for the British Army in the Second Boer War, although this was untrue,
for chronologically it conflicted with his documented activities in
Britain; he did however have relatives who fought in the conflict.
Another of his later claims was that while visiting Brighton in summer
1900 he ran into his favourite writer, Rudyard Kipling, while walking
in the street, and that they had a conversation about India.
Securing a job as a reporter for the 'Daily Mail', in March 1901 he
returned to India aboard the 'Caledonia'. His assignment was to report
on the Mahsud uprising against the British administration led by Mulla
Pawindah. On this assignment, he accompanied British troops although
only reached as far as Peshawar, not entering the Khyber Pass which he
would use as a setting for later stories. While in Rajputana he had
his first experience with an Indian guru, and after his assignment he
went tiger hunting. In Bombay in 1901 he met Englishwoman Kathleen
Steele, and they had returned to Britain by late 1902, where he gained
work for the Walton and Company merchant firm in Holborn. The couple
married in Westminster in January 1903. By this point he had amassed
large debts, and with his wife fled to Cape Town, South Africa to
evade his creditors; in his absence he was declared bankrupt. He wife
returned to London, and they never saw each other again. From there,
he claimed to have boarded a merchant sailing vessel to Australia,
where he spent time in Sydney and Brisbane before sailing back to
Africa and disembarking in Laurenço Marques, Portuguese East Africa.
In February 1904 he arrived in Mombasa, British East Africa, later
claiming that he initially worked as a hunter. He also claimed that
while near Shirati, he was shot in the leg with a poison spear by a
Masai who was stealing his cattle. He travelled to Muanza in German
East Africa, where he was afflicted with blackwater fever. Mundy then
worked as an elephant hunter, collecting and selling ivory. His later
novel, 'The Ivory Trail', was inspired largely by his own experiences
at this time. In later years he alleged that he met Frederick Selous
at this juncture, although Mundy's biographer has pointed out that
Selous was not in East Africa at this time.
Mundy secured employment as the town clerk of Kisumu, a frontier town
where he was stationed during a number of indigenous tribal
insurgencies against British imperial rule; the Kisii rebelled in the
winter of 1904–05, followed by the Sotik and the Nandi in summer 1905.
On each occasion the rebels were defeated by the British Army.
Christian missionaries pressured Mundy into overseeing a program of
providing clothes for the native population, who often went naked; he
thought this unnecessary, although designed a goat-skin apron for them
to wear. He made the acquaintance of a magico-religious specialist,
Oketch, of the Kakamega Kavirondo tribe, who healed him after a
hunting accident. He had sexual relationships with a variety of
indigenous women, and was dismissed from his job as a result. He
informed his wife of these activities, thus suggesting that she sue
him for divorce; the divorce was granted in May 1908.
Unemployed, he moved to Nairobi, where he met a married woman, Inez
Craven (née Broom). Together they eloped, and she divorced her husband
in November 1908. The couple moved to an island on Lake Victoria,
where they lived from February to June, although were subsequently
arrested under the Distressed British Subjects Act; under this, they
faced imprisoned for six months in Mombasa before deportation to
Bombay, although this eventuality did not occur. In November, the
couple married at Mombasa Registry Office; here, he first used the
name of "Talbot Mundy", erroneously claiming to the son of Charles
Chetwynd-Talbot, 20th Earl of Shrewsbury. That month, they left
Mombasa aboard the 'SS Natal', stopping in Djibouti and Port Said on
their way to Marseille, from where they made their way to England.
There they visited Mundy's mother in Lee-on-Solent, Hampshire, and she
agreed to give Mundy a substantial sum of money; it would be the last
time Mundy saw her. Mundy and his wife spent most of the money while
staying in London, before leaving from Southampton aboard the 'SS
Teutonic' in September 1909, headed for the United States.
United States and early literary career: 1909–15
========================================================
Arriving in New York City, the couple moved into a hotel room in the
Gashouse District. Soon after arrival, Mundy was mugged and suffered a
fractured skull, being hospitalised in Bellevue Hospital. Doctors
feared that he might not survive the injury, while the perpetrator,
Joseph Cavill, was indicted with first degree robbery and sentenced to
six months imprisonment. Throughout 1910, Mundy worked in a series of
menial jobs, being fired from several of them. His hospitalisation and
poverty put great strain on his marriage, as did legal charges filed
by the United States Department of Commerce and Labor accusing the
couple of entering the country using false information; the charges
were soon dismissed.
In 1910, he ran into Jeff Hanley, a reporter who had covered his
mugging incident; Hanley was impressed by Mundy's tales of India and
Africa, and lent him a typewriter, suggesting that he write some of
his stories down for potential publication. Mundy did so, and
published his first short story, "A Transaction in Diamonds", in the
February 1911 issue of Frank Munsey's magazine, 'The Scrap Book'. His
second publication was a non-fiction article, "Pig-sticking in India",
which appeared in the April issue of a new pulp magazine, 'Adventure',
which specialised in adventure fiction. Although he and 'Adventures
editor Arthur Sullivant Hoffman did not initially like each other, In
the May 1911 issue of Adventure his short story 'The Phantom Battery'
appeared. Mundy continued writing for the magazine, as well as for
'The Scrap Book', 'Argosy', and 'Cavalier'. In 1912, Mundy published
sixteen short stories and four articles in 'Adventure', seven of which
were under the name "Walter Galt". Biographer Brian Taves suggested
that these early short stories are notable "not so much for themselves
as for how much they diverged from his later oeuvre", for instance
dealing with subjects like boxing that are absent from his later work.
In 1912, 'Adventure' had also established The Adventurer's Club, of
which Mundy became a chartered member.
Mundy's story "The Soul of a Regiment" attracted particular praise and
critical attention. Revolving around an Egyptian regiment who are
taught to play music by their English Sergeant-Instructor in the
buildup to the Somaliland Campaign, it was initially published by
'Adventure' in February 1912, before becoming the first of Mundy's
publications to be republished in Britain, appearing in the March 1912
issue of George Newnes' 'The Grand Magazine'. Soon he would see his
short stories published in a range of British publications, including
'The Strand Magazine', 'London Magazine', and 'Cassell's Magazine of
Fiction' as well as 'The Grand'. 1912 also saw two cinematic
adaptations of his short stories, 'For Valour' and 'The Fire Cop' –
produced by the Edison Company and Selig Polyscope Company
respectively – with both being fairly faithful to his original
stories.
In June 1912, Inez sued for divorce on the grounds of Mundy's
adultery; he did not challenge the accusation and the divorce was
confirmed in October. As part of the divorce settlement, Mundy was
forced to pay $20 a week alimony to Inez for the rest of her life.
Mundy moved into an apartment in Greenwich Village, which for a short
time he shared with Hoffman's assistant Sinclair Lewis. At this point
he met the Kentucky-born portrait painter Harriette Rosemary Strafer,
and after she agreed to marry him they wed in Stamford, Connecticut in
August 1913. Strafer had been a practitioner of a Christian new
religious movement, Christian Science, since 1904, and encouraged her
new husband to take an interest in the faith; studying the writings of
its founder, Mary Baker Eddy, he converted to it in 1914. The couple
then moved to the town of Norway in Maine, where Mundy's friend Hugh
Pendexter was already resident. He involved himself in the activities
of his new home, becoming chairman of the local agricultural committee
and joining the Norway Committee on Public Safety. Following the
outbreak of World War I, in which Britain went to war against Germany,
Mundy sought to attain U.S. citizenship; applying in November 1914,
his request was approved in March 1917.
In Norway, Mundy authored his first novel, 'For the Peace of India',
which was set during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. It was serialised
in 'Adventure' under the altered title of 'Rung Ho!' before being
published by Charles Scribner in the U.S., and Cassells in the U.K.
Critically well received, the book sold well. In August 1914,
'Adventure' published "The Sword of Iskander", the first of Mundy's
eight novelettes revolving around the character of Dick Anthony of
Arran, a Scotsman battling the Russians in Iran, which ran until March
1915. It was in his January 1914 short story "A Soldier and a
Gentleman" that he introduced the character of Yasmini, a young Hindu
woman who would reappear in many of his later stories. He then began
work on a second novel, 'The Winds of the World', which told the story
of a Sikh officer, Risaldar-Major Ranjoor Singh, who sets out to
expose a German spy who is attempting to foment an uprising in British
India; during the course of the story he introduced Yasmini as a
character. Serialised in 'Adventure' from July to September 1915, it
was then published in Britain by Cassell; when Scribner declined to
publish it, Mundy acquired a literary agent, Paul Reynolds. Upon
publication, it received good reviews.
''King of the Khyber Rifles'': 1916–18
========================================
Mundy authored comparatively few short stories in 1916 as he focused
on his third novel, 'King of the Khyber Rifles', which told the story
of Captain Athelstan King of the British India Secret Service and his
attempt to prevent a German-backed jihad break out against the British
administration in the North-West Frontier. Again, it featured Yasmini
as a core character. The novel was serialised in 'Everybody's' from
May 1916 to January 1917, accompanied by illustrations by Joseph
Clement Coll, a man whom Mundy praised, declaring that "there never
was a better illustrator in the history of the world!". The novel was
then published by U.S.-based Bobbs-Merrill in November 1916 and by
U.K.-based Constable in January 1917; it received critical acclaim,
with critics comparing it to the work of Kipling and H. Rider Haggard.
In 1917 only two of Mundy's short stories appeared in 'Adventure'; the
first was a reprint of "The Soul of a Regiment", while the second was
a sequel, "The Damned Old Nigger"; in a 1918 readership survey, these
were rated as the first and third most popular stories in 'Adventure',
respectively. From October to December 1917 he serialised his fourth
novel, 'Hira Singh's Tale', in 'Adventure', which was partly based
upon real events. The story revolves around a regiment of Sikhs
fighting on the Western Front for the British Empire who are then
captured by the Germans; transferred to a Turkish prisoner of war
camp, they attempt to escape and return overland to India. Casells
published a British edition in June 1918, although for American
publication in book form it was renamed 'Hira Singh'. Talbot devoted
the latter to his friend Elmer Davis, and gifted a copy to the British
monarch George V, who was Commander-in-Chief of the 14th Ferozepore
Sikhs. The book received largely positive reviews in the U.S.,
although was criticised in the 'Times Literary Supplement'. Mundy felt
that many reviewers had failed to understand the main reason for the
book; he had meant it to represent a tribute to the Indian soldiers
who had died fighting in Europe during World War I.
In autumn 1918, Mundy and his wife moved to Fifth Avenue in New York
City. That year he serialised 'On the Trail of Tippoo Tib', part of a
series of novelettes which he termed "The Up and Down the Earth
Tales". Set in British East Africa prior to the First World War, it
dealt with an expedition of three Englishmen and an American who
search for a hidden cache of ivory. When published in book form in
June, Bobbs-Merrill renamed the story 'The Ivory Trail'. 'The Ivory
Trail' was Mundy's most widely reviewed work, receiving a largely
positive reception, and resulting in him being interviewed for the
'New York Evening World'.
Christian Science and Palestine: 1918–20
================================================
In December 1918, Mundy and his wife had visited Indianapolis, there
meeting with the team at Bobbs-Merrill, and it was here that he
encountered Christian Science, a new religious movement founded by
Mary Baker Eddy in the 19th century. He was convinced to advertise his
books in the group's newspaper, the 'Christian Science Monitor'.
Becoming increasingly interested in the movement, he became close
friends with William Denison McCrackan, who was the associated editor
of both the 'Christian Science Journal' and 'Christian Science
Sentinel'. Mundy agreed to become the president of The Anglo-American
Society, a Christian Science group devoted to providing aid for
Palestine, which had recently been conquered by the British from the
Ottoman Empire. He also became vice president of the Society's
magazine, 'New Earth News'.
Spending time at the Christian Science White Mountains Camp in
Tamworth, New Hampshire, it was there that he wrote 'The Eye of
Zeitun'; it included the four protagonists who had appeared in 'The
Ivory Trail' experiencing a new adventure in Armenia, and reflected
Turkish persecution of the Armenian people. It was serialised in
'Romance' from February to March 1920 before being published by
Bobbs-Merrill in March under the altered title of 'The Eyes of
Zeitoon'. The book received mixed reviews and did not sell well.
Although pleased with the work of his agent Paul Reynolds, he switched
to Howard Wheeler, with whom he felt more comfortable.
In December 1919, Talbot decided to travel to Palestine, to aid the
Society in establishing the 'Jerusalem News', the first-English
language newspaper in the city. Departing the U.S. in January 1920
aboard the 'RMS Adriatic', he arrived in Southampton, before
travelling to London, Rome, Alexandria, and then reaching Jerusalem in
February. There he became the newspaper's editorial assistant, being
involved in writing articles, reporting on current events, proof
reading, and editing. In Jerusalem, he entered a relationship with
Sally Ames, a fellow Christian Scientist whom he had first met in the
U.S. It was also in the city that he later claimed he had met the
English writer G. K. Chesterton on the latter's visit. Talbot
witnessed the conflict between Arab and Jewish populations within the
city, and was present during the Nebi Musa riots. With Ames he also
visited Egypt, there traveling to the Great Pyramid of Giza and later
alleging that he spent a night alone in its King's Chamber. Having
identified itself as a wartime paper, the 'Jerusalem News' ceased
publication after the transition from British military rule to the
British civilian rule of Mandatory Palestine.
Creating Jimgrim: 1920–22
=================================
Mundy returned to New York City in August, there informing Rosemary
that he wanted a divorce, which she refused. Unable to live with her,
he moved into an apartment in Huguenot Park, Staten Island. There he
authored 'Guns of the Gods', a story set in Yasmini's youth; it was
serialised in 'Adventure' from March to May, and published in book
form by Bobbs-Merrill in June. The 'Times Literary Supplement' accused
it of having a strong anti-English bias.
It was also on Staten Island that he began drawing upon his
experiences of Palestine for a series of novelettes set in the region
that featured a new protagonist, James Schuyler Grim, or "Jimgrim". As
created by Mundy, Jimgrim was an American who had been recruited by
the British intelligence services because of his in-depth knowledge of
Arab life. Mundy claimed that Jimgrim was based on a real individual,
whose identity he refused to reveal, while later biographer Brian
Taves has suggested that the character was heavily influenced by T. E.
Lawrence. The first of these Jimgrim stories, "The Adventure of
El-Kerak", appeared in 'Adventure' in November 1921; the second,
"Under the Dome of the Rock", appeared in December, while the third,
"The 'Iblis' at Ludd", appeared in January 1922. In August 1922, Mundy
published "A Secret Society", in which he took Jimgrim out of
Palestine and sent him to Egypt. This series of novelettes promoted
the cause of Arab independence from British imperialism and presented
an idealised image of the prominent Arab leader Faisal I of Iraq.
These early Jimgrim stories were an immediate success for 'Adventure',
however Bobbs-Merrill were nevertheless not keen on them and urged
Mundy to write something else. The company had repeatedly lent money
to Mundy, who was now heavily in debt to them.
In October 1921, Mundy left New York and settled in Reno, Nevada,
where Ames joined him. He initiated divorce proceedings against
Rosemary in a Reno court. The case was eventually heard in August
1923, with Mundy alleging that he wanted a divorce because Rosemary
had deserted him. She denied the allegations, and the judge dismissed
Talbot's case, adding that from the evidence Rosemary herself would be
entitled to sue for divorce, which she nevertheless refused to do.
Mundy meanwhile continued writing prolifically, producing 19
novel-length stories from 1921 through to the end of 1923, something
that he found particularly tiring.
In November 1922, 'Adventure' published Mundy's 'The Gray Mahatma',
which would later be republished under the title of 'Caves of Terror'.
Taves described 'Caves of Terror' as "a landmark in Mundy's career",
being "one of [his] most unusual and extraordinary novels". The work
included characters such as King and Yasmini who had been a part of
Mundy's early oeuvre, as well as more recently developed characters
like Jeff Ramsden from his Jimgrim series.
It revealed Mundy's growing interest in Asian religion and also
introduced a number of fantasy elements not present in his earlier
work. The readers of 'Adventure' voted it as their favourite novel of
the year. At this time, he also exhibited his growing interest in
esoteric ideas through the letters he published in 'Adventure', in
which he discussed his ideas about the Egyptian pyramids, the Lost
Tribes of Israel, and the Ark of the Covenant.
In 1922, Mundy and Ames moved to Truckee in California, although in
October he travelled to San Diego, remaining there for several months.
He had continued writing, producing 'The Nine Unknown', a Jimgrim
novel which again exhibited Mundy's interest in Indian religious
ideas. Serialised in 'Adventure' from March to April 1923, it was
published by Bobbs-Merrill in March 1924 and then in Britain by
Hutchinson in June. Taves however considered it to be "the most
shallow and least satisfying of Mundy's fantasies". Mundy wanted to
see the publication of popular editions of his novels, viewing this as
a potential source of additional income and a good means of
encouraging cinematic adaptations; in 1922 Bobbs-Merrill agreed,
resulting in A. L. Burt Company publishing eight Mundy novels in two
years. In the United Kingdom, Hutchinson published all but one of
Mundy's then-written novels between 1922 and 1925.
Embracing Theosophy: 1922–27
====================================
In 1922, Mundy resigned from the Mother Church of Christian Science.
He was increasingly interested in Theosophy, and on 1 January 1923 he
joined the Theosophical Society Pasadena, with Ames joining later that
month. He expressed the view that reading the works of Theosophy's
co-founder Helena Blavatsky "stirred in me something deeper and more
challenging than I had known was there and capable of being stirred."
He developed a close friendship with the groups' leader Katherine
Tingley, who invited him to live in her two-storey home, Wachere
Crest, at the Theosophical community of Lomaland in San Diego. At
Lomaland, he immersed himself in the study of Theosophy, attending
lectures and plays on the subject, and eventually appearing in some of
these plays and giving his own lectures, coming to be recognised as
one of the Society's most popular and charismatic public speakers.
In 1923, Mundy became part of Tingley's cabinet, a position normally
reserved for Theosophical veterans; he remained an active member of
the cabinet until after Tingley's death in 1929. Tingley invited him
to contribute to 'The Theosophical Path', with his first article in
this magazine, devoted to his time in Jerusalem, appearing in the
February 1923 issue. He would be a regular contributor to the magazine
through 1924 and 1925, and would continue to do so with less frequency
until 1929. He also wrote a preface for Tingley's 1925 book 'The Wine
of Life'. In June 1924, Mundy and Sally relocated to Mérida, Yucatan
in Mexico for six weeks. Under Mexican law, this residence allowed
Mundy to secure a divorce from his third wife, which he did in July,
marrying Ames the following day. Returning to San Diego, Mundy and
Ames purchased a house near to Lomaland for $25,000 in late 1924. The
house -- which required much renovation -- was named "Tilgaun" by the
couple, who lived there with her son Dick.
At the recommendation of director Fred Niblo, whom Mundy had known in
Africa, in early 1923 the producer Thomas H. Ince hired Mundy as a
screenwriter. Mundy's first assignment for Ince was to write a
novelization of the upcoming film, 'Her Reputation'; the book was
published by Bobbs-Merrill, and in England by Hutchinson under the
title 'The Bubble Reputation'. Mundy later expressed disdain for the
novel, with his biographer Peter Berresford Ellis describing it as
"the worst book that Talbot ever wrote". For Ince, Mundy also produced
a novelisation of a Western film, 'When Trails Were New', which dealt
with the interactions between Native Americans and European settlers
in the Wisconsin woodlands of 1832. He later criticised the novel,
with Taves describing it as "unquestionably one of Mundy's worst
stories". Mundy continued to write his own stories; in December 1922,
'Adventure' published Mundy's 'Benefit of Doubt', which was followed
by a sequel, 'Treason', in January 1923. These stories involved the
character of Athelstan King, and were set in the context of the
Malabar rebellion which had taken place in Malabar in 1921. In
December 1923, 'Adventure' published Mundy's next Jimgrim story,
'Mohammed's Tooth', which would later be republished as 'The Hundred
Days'.
Mundy followed this with 'Om: The Secret of Ahbor Valley', which was
serialised in 'Adventure' from October to November 1924, before
publication by Bobbs-Merrill. The characters were based upon
individuals that he knew at Lomaland, and the story expounded
Theosophical ideas regarding the Masters and the existence of a
universal "Ancient Wisdom". 'Adventure' included a disclaimer at the
start of the story stating that they did not endorse the esoteric
movement. Ellis described the work as Mundy's "most significant
novel", and his "literary masterpiece", while for Taves, it was "his
most distinctly literary book, surpassing earlier novels by exhibiting
a maturing skill in choice of language, plot structure, theme, depth
of character." Mundy received hundreds of letters praising the work,
and it also received good critical reviews from press. It proved
popular among Theosophists, with Tingley asking Mundy if he would
adapt it for one of her theaters. The British edition underwent six
reprints in quick succession, while Swedish and German translations
were soon commissioned for publication. At the prompting of several
letters, Mundy began work on a sequel, 'Ramsden', which appeared in
'Adventure' in June 1926 before being published by Bobbs-Merrill under
the title of 'The Devils Guard'. Upon publication it received good
reviews. A third instalment in the trilogy, 'The Red Flame of
Erinpura', appeared in 'Adventure' in 1927. Taves later noted that
these three works reflected Theosophy's "most direct influence upon
Mundy's writing", adding that in looking to Asia not only "for
exoticism, but for wisdom and an alternative mode of living superior
to Western habits", they "reinvigorated and revitalized
fantasy-adventure literature".
Mundy then moved towards historical fiction.
His next main project was the "Tros Saga", a series of six
novel-length stories which appeared in 'Adventure' over the course of
1925. Set in Europe during the first century BCE, the eponymous Tros
was a Samothracian pirate who combats the Roman military leader Julius
Caesar, who in Mundy's novels had been responsible for the death of
Tros' father. The series further reflected Mundy's Theosophical
beliefs by presenting both the Samothracians and the druids as
practitioners of the "Ancient Wisdom" religion that Theosophy
propounded. Mundy's negative portrayal of Caesar caused controversy,
with various letters being published in 'Adventures opinion section
debating the accuracy of Mundy's portrayal, which included
contributions from historical specialists in the period. The collected
book, reaching 950 pages in length, was published in 1934 by
Appleton-Century and Hutchinson, at which it proved both a critical
and a commercial success.
Mundy remained with the Roman Empire for a novel focusing on the final
months of the Emperor Commodus; it was serialised as 'The Falling
Star' by 'Adventure' in October 1926 and later published in book form
by Hutchinson as 'Caesar Dies' in 1934. From 1925 to 1927 he also
wrote 'Queen Cleopatra', a lengthy novel that both Bobbs-Merrill and
Hutchinson wanted edited down before they would publish it. Moving
away from the Roman Empire, Mundy wrote 'W.H.: A Portion of the Record
of Sir William Halifax', a novel set in Tudor England which featured
William Shakespeare as a supporting character. Mundy had difficulty
finding a publisher for 'W.H.', although it was eventually serialised
as 'Ho for London Town!' in 'Argosy All-Story Weekly' in February
1929, followed by book publication as 'W.H.' through Hutchinson in
1831.
Turning his attention to new business ventures, he joined a syndicate,
the Sindicato de Desarrollo Liafail, who were planning on drilling for
oil in Tijuana, Mexico. Mundy became the syndicate's secretary, while
another key member of the group was General Abelardo L. Rodríguez, who
was then Governor of Baja California, and they also secured investment
from Mexican President Plutarco Elías Calles. They obtained permission
in September 1926 and began drilling in February 1927. The company
closed in July 1931, having been a financial failure; they had failed
to locate any oil and one of the syndicate's partners proved to be a
con man who had stolen much of their funds.
Final years: 1928–40
======================
After the failings of the Mexican oil expedition, Mundy left for New
York City in June 1928. He officially separated from Ames the
following month, leaving his Tilgaun home to her. In the city he
embarked on a relationship with Theda Conkey Webber--a woman he had
met in the autumn of 1927--and she shortly after legally changed her
name to Dawn Allen. In New York, Mundy had resumed his friendship with
Natacha Rambova, whom he had first met at Point Loma. Through her he
was introduced to the spirit medium George Wehner, who helped develop
Mundy's interest in Spiritualism. Mundy then wrote an introduction to
Wehner's autobiography, 'A Curious Life', reflecting his own growing
interest in Spiritualism. Both Rambova and Mundy and Dawn moved into
the Master Apartments building, which rented its rooms to a large
number of artists and writers. Mundy became involved in Nicholas
Roerich's museum, which was located in the building, and travelled to
London in order to convince the authorities to permit Roerich's
expedition to India and in to the Himalayas; they had initially been
hesitant that Roerich--who was Russian by birth--may have been an
intelligence agent for the Soviet Union.
In 1928, Mundy took on Brandt and Brandt as his new literary agents,
becoming a close friend of co-owner Carl Brandt. At his agent's
prompting, Mundy ceased publishing with Bobbs-Merrill and switched to
The Century Company, soon renamed D. Appleton-Century, who sold far
more copies of his books than Bobbs-Merrill had. Both Century and
Hutchinson would subsequently reissue many of Mundy's older works in
the following few years. In January 1929 he registered a new company,
Jeff Ramsden Inc, with two comrades. The company engaged in a variety
of activities, including purchasing real estate, copyright, and
inventions, although had foundered within months. The state department
officially dissolved it in December 1936 for not paying tax.
Directed by John Ford, Fox Film had produced a cinematic adaptation of
'King of the Khyber Rifles', titled 'The Black Watch'. Mundy disliked
it, thinking that the acting was bad and describing it as "a
disagreeable waste of money and an insult to the public". However, it
allowed him to pay off the many debts that he owed. In March 1932,
Mundy sold the film rights of 'The Ivory Trail' to Universal Studios,
who used it as the basis for 'Jungle Mystery', a film that was first
released as a 12 episode serial and then as a full feature in 1935. In
1936, Paramount optioned 'Rung Ho!', although Mundy--unhappy with
previous cinematic adaptations of his work--insisted on a significant
level of creative control, producing a script for the film known as
'Fifty-Seven'. 20th Century Fox also began work on their own
adaptation of 'King of the Khyber Rifles', although this project
ultimately never came to fruition.
The changing nature of the market meant that Mundy had to write an
increasing number of short stories in the final decade of his life,
something that he was not happy about. In this period he not only
published in 'Adventure' and 'Argosy' but also in a wider range of
magazines, such as 'Blue Book', 'Short Stories', 'All Aces', and
'Golden Fleece'. He also published work in American Sunday newspaper
supplements like 'This Week' and 'American Weekly', as well as in the
Canadian 'Maclean's', and the British 'Britannia and Eve' and 'The
Passing Show'.
Mundy created a series of stories focusing on the character of Ben
Quorn, the first instalments of which appeared in 'Adventure' over the
course of late 1928 and early 1929, the latter in 'Argosy'. One of
these, 'The Gunga Sahib', was set in the (fictional) Indian state of
Narada. His final Quorn story was 'The Elephant Sahib' for 'Argosy'.
Mundy produced a series of short stories, novelettes, and novels about
the Criminal Investigation Division of India, most of which featured
either Larry O'Hara or Chullunder Ghose as their protagonist. In March
1932 he published 'Chullunder Ghose the Guileless' in 'Adventure'.
In November 1932, Century published Mundy's novel 'C.I.D.'. Revolving
around the character of Ghose, it featured an appearance of the
Thuggee group. Unusually, it was only serialised after book
publication, in 'Adventure' during March and April 1933. Ghose's final
appearance was in 'The Elephant Waits', published in 'Short Stories'
in February 1937. Mundy later rewrote 'The Elephant Waits' as the
novelette 'The Night the Clocks Stopped', in which Ghose was removed
altogether.
From October to December 1929 'Adventure' serialised Mundy's 'The
Invisible Guns of Kabul', which was then published in book form as
'Cock O' the North'. The story had originally been commissioned for
the 'Saturday Evening Post', but their editor George Horace Lorimer
declined it on completion. However, he gradually ceased publishing his
work with 'Adventure' in this period, after they reduced both the
number of issues that they released and the length of their
publication. During these years he also wrote two novelettes for
'Everybody's Combined with Romance' and four articles for 'The
Theosophical Path'.
At the Master Apartments, Mundy had written 'Black Light', and while
he was unable to get it serialised, it was published by both
Bobbs-Merril and Hutchinson in October 1930, to mixed reviews. The
novel was set in India, and revolved around a man living under the
domination of his mother. Taves referred to it as "one of Mundy's
deepest and most rewarding novels". It was the last of Mundy's novels
that the company produced as he left them shortly after; the company
were upset, having felt that they had been badly treated. In the
following year, Mundy focused on magazine work, producing 'King of the
World', which was serialised in 'Adventure' from November 1930 to
February 1931; it was later published in book form as 'Jimgrim'. The
story moved towards science fiction, and entailed Jimgrim battling an
antagonist named Dorje, who has discovered the scientific secrets of
Atlantis and is using them in an attempt to conquer the world. His
novel 'White Tigers', which revolved around a big game hunter and a
filmmaker, was serialised in 'Adventure' in August 1932. Another
novel was 'Full Moon', which told the story of a secret police officer
investigating the disappearance of a brigadier in India. Serialised in
'The American Weekly' from October 1934 to January 1935, it was
described by Taves as "perhaps the most intensely mythic and symbolic
of all Mundy's work".
Mundy had also revived his Tros stories, producing four novelettes
featuring the character which were published in 'Adventure' from March
to October 1935: "Battle Stations", "Cleopatra's Promise", "The Purple
Pirate" and "Fleets of Fire", all of which were then published in a
collected volume titled 'Purple Pirate'. Mundy returned to the setting
of Tibet for two of his final novels, 'The Thunder Dragon Gate' and
its sequel, 'Old Ugly Face', which featured the adventures of the
American Tom Grange who combatted attempts by the Russian, Japanese,
and German governments to seize control of the Himalayan kingdom. 'The
Thunder Dragon Gate' was serialised in 'The American Weekly' from
January to March 1937 before publication by Appleton-Century and
Hutchinson, with 'Old Ugly Face' being serialised in 'Maclean's'
between April and May 1938 before a 1940 publication by Hutchinson.
Another of Mundy's final novels was 'East and West', a melodrama set
in India that Mundy designed with cinematic adaptation in mind.
In 1929 he proceeded on a visit to Europe with Dawn, spending time in
London, Paris, and Rome before returning to New York.
Mundy and Dawn proceeded to Mexico via Cuba, settling in Yucatan,
where they visited Maya archaeological sites like Chichen Itza and
Uxmal before Mundy secured a divorce there in July 1931. He and Dawn
married shortly after in Campeche City. They subsequently visited
Europe, spending time in Hamburg before driving to Mallorca to visit
Rambova, who had settled there with a new husband. During this
holiday, Mundy authored a non-fiction philosophical book, 'Thus Spake
the Devil', in which he brought in ideas from both Christian Science
and Theosophy. He sent it to publishers under a pseudonym, but at the
time it was rejected; it would be posthumously published as 'I Say
Sunrise' in 1947. There, Dawn discovered that she was pregnant with
Mundy's child, with the couple heading to England, where she was
hospitalised at the Theosophist-run Stonefield Hospital in Blackheath,
Kent. Their daughter was born there in February, although died an hour
later as a result of a heart malformation. To recover, the couple
spent time with Mundy's cousins in Surrey, from where Mundy visited
his brother in Hythe. They sailed back to the U.S. from Marseille in
late 1933.
Amid the economic problems of the Great Depression, Mundy began
seeking out alternative forms of income to supplement his writing,
beginning to give occasional lectures. He also began regularly writing
scripts for the radio show 'Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy',
producing around seven hundred scripts in all; these brought in a
regular income until his death. At certain points he introduced
Theosophical ideas into the radio serial, although nevertheless felt
that by producing such "grossly commercial" material he had
prostituted himself.
In the summer of 1933 they had arrived back in the U.S., and in autumn
moved into a cottage near to Osprey, Florida, where their friend Rose
Wilder Lane came to stay.
In September 1934 they returned to the Northeast, settling into Dawn's
parental home in South Manchester, Connecticut, where they remained
until 1938.
In 1939 Mundy and his wife moved to Anna Maria Island in Manatee
County, Florida. There he was diagnosed with diabetes, a disease that
had also afflicted many of his family members.
Mundy retained an interest in political developments in Europe, and
was critical of both fascism and Marxism-Leninism, characterising
Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini and Francisco Franco as
the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. After World War II broke out in
Europe in September 1939, Mundy advocated for the U.S. to join the
conflict in support of the U.K. and France.
Mundy died at home, during sleep, on 5 August 1940, aged 61. The
certifying doctor attributed his death to myocardial insufficiency
brought on by diabetes. His body was cremated on 6 August at Baynard
Crematorium in St. Petersburg, Florida. Obituaries marking his passing
appeared in both the American and British press.
Personal life
======================================================================
Mundy was married five times during his life. His only biological
child died stillborn, although he was a kind and indulgent stepfather
to Dick Ames, the son of his fourth wife. He was known to be very
generous to his family and to his friends within the Theosophical
movement. His sense of humour allowed him to laugh at himself, and he
was open about his own failings and shortcomings. Mundy worked seven
hours a day, six days a week, typically arising at three or four in
the morning.
Mundy never produced a written outline of his stories prior to writing
them. Very proud of his poetry, Mundy liked to insert a proverb or
verse at the start of each chapter in his novels.
He had been a heavy cigarette smoker throughout his life--at some
points smoking fifty a day--although he quit the habit in 1936 after
an illness.
Ellis described Mundy as "a strange, enigmatic personality", noting
that in early life he had been described as "a wastrel,
confidence-trickster, barefaced liar and a womanizer" but that in
later life he had changed his "philosophical approach to life ... and
become better for it".
Mundy was fascinated by mysticism, and explored various religions
throughout his life. After a brief involvement in Christian Science,
he joined the Theosophical movement and also became very interested in
Buddhism. Taves stated that through his literature, Mundy was "engaged
in a lifelong discourse on philosophy and religion", including Eastern
ideas on subjects like karma and reincarnation which would later be
popularised by the New Age Movement.
Mundy also had strong political views, expressing contempt for the
British establishment and promoting an egalitarian ethos, although not
so far as to become a socialist. He had been a supporter of President
Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal although in the final years of his
life became more politically conservative. The key political issue
that he confronted in his work was colonialism, and he opposed
imperialism regardless of the country committing it; his work contains
negative portrayals of imperialistic activity by both contemporary
nation-states like Britain, Russia, and Japan, as well as by the
ancient Roman Empire. In keeping with his critical attitude toward the
British Empire, Mundy expressed support for Indian independence.
Ellis claimed that unlike many of his contemporaries, Mundy's work has
not been accused of adopting a racialist attitude toward non-caucasian
peoples. However, Taves believed that Mundy's depictions of indigenous
Africans in 'The Ivory Trail' were "hardly free of racism" from a
contemporary perspective, but that they nevertheless were "certainly
enlightened" for his time, adding that Mundy "unquestionably respected
black humanity" and abhorred white supremacism.
Mundy believed in the equality of men and women. Biographer Brian
Taves felt that Mundy exhibited feminist sympathies in his work,
suggesting that Yasmini, the strong, independent Hindu character that
he developed in 1914, was clear evidence of this. He further added
that throughout the series, female characters are frequently "the
leading players in his stories, ambitious, likeable, out-thinking and
dominating men," with these female depictions typically being
"believable [and] multi-dimensional".
Reception and legacy
======================================================================
Over the course of his career, Mundy produced 47 novels, 130
novelettes and short stories, and 23 articles, as well as one
non-fiction book. Mundy biographer Peter Berresford Ellis described
him as "one of the bestselling writers of adventure-fiction of his
day", while Taves characterised him as "the most influential and
enduring, if not the best-selling, writer of Eastern adventure of his
day". Mundy was best known for 'King of the Khyber Rifles' although
his most critically acclaimed book was 'Om', and he personally
considered 'Old Ugly Face' to be his magnum opus. His work has been
translated into a variety of European and Asian languages.
During his lifetime, Mundy's work was often compared with that of H.
Rider Haggard and Rudyard Kipling, both of whose careers overshadowed
his own. This was a comparison that Mundy himself disliked. Taves
noted that while Kipling's work is typically seen as the model for
colonial literature in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Talbot
offers "a significant counter-example", for he was writing "for the
same readers and within a similar framework, [but] he was not only
overtly anti-colonial but also championed Eastern philosophy and
culture." Taves expressed the view that Mundy's work was "free from
prejudice" even though the latter did "occasionally indulge in
stereotyped remarks" within his stories. Taves believed that the
"closest parallel" to Mundy was Joseph Conrad because both included
philosophical concerns within their adventure fiction, however he
added that Conrad's "bleaker currents of literary modernism"
contrasted with Mundy's "hopeful conclusions".
Mundy's work witnessed a posthumous growth of fan interest, with Taves
describing this as a "devoted but necessarily limited following". In
the early 1950s, 20th Century Fox worked on a further adaptation of
'King of the Khyber Rifles', directed by Henry King. In 1955, Bradford
M. Day compiled the first bibliography of his work, later releasing a
revised version in 1978. In 1958-59, a number of Mundy's books were
re-released by Gnome Press, while in 1967-71 Avon brought out an array
of mass-market paperbacks.
In 1983, Donald M. Grant published an edited collection of Mundy's
work, 'Talbot Mundy, Messenger of Destiny', which also featured a
bibliography and essays from two fantasy authors, Darrel Crombie and
Fritz Leiber. That same year, Grant published Ellis' biography of
Mundy, which was based on the Bobbs-Merrill correspondence held at
Indiana University. Also in 1983, the writer-director Philip Kaufman
and the producer Steve Roth announced plans for an adaptation of some
of Mundy's novels, to be called 'Jimgrim vs. the Nine Unknown'. The
project was shelved after the financers, Tri-Star, pulled out
following the commercial failure of Kaufman's 'The Right Stuff'. In
1995, Mark Jaqua assembled Mundy's articles on Theosophy into a single
volume, 'The Lama's Law'. In 1998, the first website devoted to Mundy
was established; it had been created by R. T. Gaut, who ran it until
his death.
Mundy's work has been very influential on later writers. Those who
have cited him as an influence on their own work include Robert E.
Howard, E. Hoffmann Price, Robert A. Heinlein, Fritz Leiber, H. Warner
Munn and C. L. Moore. Other science-fiction and fantasy writers who
cited Mundy as an influence included Andre Norton, Jeremy Lane, L.
Sprague de Camp, Marion Zimmer Bradley and Daniel Easterman. James
Hilton's novel 'Lost Horizon' was partly inspired by Mundy's work.
S.M. Stirling's 2002 alternate-history novel 'The Peshawar Lancers' is
inspired by Mundy's adventure novels, and several of its characters
share names with those of Mundy's (e.g. Athelstane King and Yasmini),
albeit with different backstories (since the novel is set in a
parallel 2025 in which Europe was destroyed in a natural disaster,
making India the seat of the British Empire).
Bibliography
======================================================================
A bibliography of Mundy's published books was included by Ellis in his
biography.
Title Series Serialisation First collected publications
'Rung Ho!' ('For the Peace of India') – 'Adventure' (February 1914)
Charles Scribner's Sons (New York, 1914); Cassell & Co. (London,
1914)
'The Winds of the World' Ranjoor Singh 'Adventure' (July 1915)
Cassell & Co. (London, 1916); Bobbs-Merrill (Indianapolis, 1917)
'King of the Khyber Rifles' Athelstan King 'Everybody's' (May 1916)
Bobbs-Merrill (Indianapolis, 1916); Constable & Co. (London, 1917)
'Hira Singh's Tale' ('Hira Singh') Ranjoor Singh 'Adventure' (October
1917) Cassell & Co. (London, 1918); Bobbs-Merrill (Indianapolis,
1918)
'The Ivory Trail' ('On the Trail of Tippoo Tib') – 'Adventure' (May
1919) Bobbs-Merrill (Indianapolis, 1919); Constable & Co. (London,
1919)
'The Eye of Zeitoon' ('The Eye of Zeitun') – 'Romance' (February
1920) Bobbs-Merrill (Indianapolis, 1920); Hutchinson (London, 1920)
'Told in the East' Three short stories 'Adventure' (March and July
1913; June 1915) Bobbs-Merrill (Indianapolis, 1920)
'Guns of the Gods' Yasmini 'Adventure' (March 1921) Bobbs-Merrill
(Indianapolis, 1921); Hutchinson (London, 1921)
'Her Reputation' ('The Bubble Reputation') – – Bobbs-Merrill
(Indianapolis, 1923); Hutchinson (London, 1923)
'The Nine Unknown' – 'Adventure' (March 1923) Bobbs-Merrill
(Indianapolis, 1924); Hutchinson (London, 1924)
'Om: The Secret of Ahbor Valley' Jimgrim/Ramsden 'Adventure' (October
1924) Bobbs-Merrill (Indianapolis, 1924); Hutchinson (London, 1925)
'The Caves of Terror' ('The Gray Mahatma') Jimgrim/Ramsden
'Adventure' (November 1922) Garden City Publishing Co. (New York,
1924); Hutchinson (London, 1934)
'The Soul of a Regiment' - 'Adventure' (February 1912) Alex Dulfer
(Sam Francisco, 1924)
'The Devil's Guard' ('Ramsden') Jimgrim/Ramsden 'Adventure' (June
1926) Bobbs-Merrill (Indianapolis, 1926); Hutchinson (London, 1926)
'Queen Cleopatra' Tros – Bobbs-Merrill (Indianapolis, 1929);
Hutchinson (London, 1929)
'Cock O' the North' ('The Invisible Guns of Kabul'; 'Gup Bahadur') –
'Adventure' (October, 1929) Bobbs-Merrill (Indianapolis, 1929);
Hutchinson (London, 1929)
'The Hundred Days' ('Muhammad's Tooth') Jimgrim/Ramsden 'Adventure'
(December 1923) Hutchinson (London, 1930); Century (New York, 1930)
'The Marriage of Meldrum Strange' Jimgrim/Ramsden 'Adventure' (April
1922) Hutchinson (London, 1930); Century (New York, 1931)
'The Woman Ayisha' Jimgrim/Ramsden 'Adventure' (October 1927)
Hutchinson (London, 1930); Century (New York, 1931)
'Black Light' – – Bobbs-Merrill (Indianapolis, 1930); Hutchinson
(London, 1930)
'W.H.: A Portion of the Record of Sir William Halfax' ('The Queen's
Warrant'; 'Ho for London Town!') – 'Argosy' (February 1929) Hutchinson
(London, 1931); Royal Books (New York, 1953)
'Jimgrim' ('King of the World'; 'Jimgrim Sahib') Jimgrim/Ramsden
'Adventure' (November 1930) Century (New York, 1931); Hutchinson
(London, 1931)
'Jungle Jest' Short stories, Jimgrim/Ramsden 'Adventure' (December
1922, January 1923; August 1923) Hutchinson (London, 1931); Century
(New York, 1932)
'The Lost Trooper' Jimgrim/Ramsden 'Adventure' (May 1922) Hutchinson
(London, 1931)
'When Trails Were New' – 'Argosy' (October 1928) Hutchinson (London,
1932)
'C.I.D.' Jimgrim/Ramsden 'Adventure' (November 1933) Hutchinson
(London, 1932); Century (New York, 1933)
'The Gunga Sahib' Jimgrim/Ramsden 'Adventure' (November 1928)
Hutchinson (London, 1933); Appleton-Century (New York, 1934)
'The King in Check' ('Affair in Araby') 'Adventure' (July 1922)
Hutchinson (London, 1933); Appleton-Century (New York, 1934)
'The Mystery of Khufu's Tomb' 'Adventure' (October 1922) Hutchinson
(London, 1933); Appleton-Century (New York, 1935)
'Jimgrim and Allah's Peace' Short stories; Jimgrim/Ramsden
'Adventure' (November 1921; December 1921) Hutchinson (London, 1933);
Appleton-Century (New York, 1936)
'The Red Flame of Erinpura' 'Adventure' (January 1927) Hutchinson
(London, 1934)
'Caesar Dies' ('The Falling Star') 'Adventure' (October, 1926)
Hutchinson (London, 1934); Centaur Books (New York, 1973)
'Tros of Samothrace' Short stories; Tros 'Adventure' (February 1925;
April 1925; June 1925; August 1925; October 1925; December 1925;
February 1926) Hutchinson (London, 1934); Appleton-Century (New York,
1934)
'Full Moon' ('There Was a Door') 'American Weekly' (October 1934)
Appleton-Century (New York, 1935); Hutchinson (London, 1935)
Jimgrim/Ramsden
=================
* 'Hira Singh' (1918)
* 'The Seventeen Thieves of El-Kalil' (1935)
* 'The Lion of Petra' (1932)
* 'The Red Flame of Erinpura' (1934)
* 'Jimgrim, Moses, and Mrs. Aintree' (first book publication of 1922
magazine story, 2008)
Tros
======
* 'Tros of Samothrace' (1925)
* 'Queen Cleopatra' (1929)
* 'Purple Pirate' (1935)
Lobsang Pun
=============
* 'The Thunder Dragon Gate' (1937)
* 'Old Ugly Face' (1940)
Non-series
============
* 'All Four Winds: Four Novels of India' (omnibus, 1932)
* 'Full Moon' (variant title, 'There Was a Door', 1935)
* 'Romances of India' (omnibus, 1936)
* 'East and West' (variant title 'Diamonds See in the Dark', 1935)
* 'The Valiant View' (Short Stories, 1939)
* 'Winds from the East: A Talbot Mundy Reader' (Fiction, Poems and
Non-Fiction, 2006)
* 'A Transaction in Diamonds: Talbot Mundy in the Pulps, 1911' (The
Talbot Mundy Library, volume 1)
* 'The Soul of a Regiment' (The Talbot Mundy Library, volume 2, NYP)
* 'In a Righteous Cause: Talbot Mundy in Adventure, 1913' (The Talbot
Mundy Library, volume 3)
* 'The Letter of His Orders--Three Short Novels from Adventure, 1913'
(The Talbot Mundy Library, volume 4)
* 'Love and War-The Battles of Billy Blain, 1912-16' (The Talbot Mundy
Library, volume 5, NYP)
* 'The Sword of Iskandar- The Adventures of Dick Anthony of Arran'
(The Talbot Mundy Library, volume 6, NYP)
Yasmini of India
==================
* 'A Soldier and a Gentleman' reprinted in 'A Soldier and a Gentleman,
Talbot Mundy in Adventure 1914-1919' (The Talbot Mundy Library, volume
7), 'Adventure', January 1915
* 'The Winds of the World', 'Adventure' magazine, July-September 1915
* 'King of the Khyber Rifles', 'Everybody's Magazine', May 1916
* 'Guns of the Gods', 'Adventure' magazine, March 3-May 3, 1921
* 'Caves of Terror (The Gray Mahatma)', 'Adventure' magazine, Nov 10,
1922 [Grimjim series]
See also
======================================================================
* Talbot Mundy and Theosophy
Further reading
======================================================================
* Brian Taves, 'Talbot Mundy, Philosopher of Adventure: A Critical
Biography' (McFarland, 2005)
* Peter Berresford Ellis, 'The Last Adventurer: The Life of Talbot
Mundy' (Donald M. Grant, Publisher, Inc., 1984)
* Donald M. Grant (compiler), 'Talbot Mundy: Messenger of Destiny'
(Donald M. Grant, Publisher, Inc., 1983)
* Brian Taves (editor) 'Talbot Mundy, Winds From the East' (Ariel
Press, 2006) (an anthology of Mundy short stories and articles)
*
*
*
External links
======================================================================
* [
http://theosophy.katinkahesselink.net/talbut-mundy/mundy1.html
Dustfall]
*
*
*
*
* [
http://gutenberg.net.au/plusfifty-a-m.html#MUNDY Works by Talbot
Mundy] at Project Gutenberg Australia
*
*
[
https://web.archive.org/web/20060828133219/http://www.talbotmundy.com/
Talbot Mundy - Master of Mystical Adventure]
* [
http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/mundy_talbot Entry at the
Encyclopedia of Science fiction]
*
*
* *
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=========
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