James De Mille

Born in 1833 in Saint John, New Brunswick, he became part of an influential literary family and went on to build a career in both education and fiction. He studied at Acadia College and later taught classics and history, eventually serving as a professor at Dalhousie University in Halifax.

Alongside his academic work, he published a large number of novels and serialized stories from the late 1860s through the 1870s. His books often mixed travel, adventure, humor, and social satire, helping make him one of the earlier widely read Canadian novelists.

He died in 1880. After his death, A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder brought him renewed attention for its imaginative, unusual vision, and it remains the work most often associated with his name today.