In announcing the forthcoming appearance of "Ada Mar; or, The Archduke's Empire," as a serial in the New York Weekly, the publishers said that the author, Illion Constellano, "is a Mexican, actively employed in the commercial and military service of his country," and announced that he would write solely and exclusively for the New York Weekly after the publication of two or three stories written for one of their contemporaries (apparently Irwin P. Beadle, who published two of his novels in 1864) under a previous contract. Said they: "He is known both in this country and in Europe as the most powerful of romance writers ... Added to a rich imagination and a mind of great originality, he possesses great experience. He has traveled all over the civilized world, and is master of a number of different languages." The rich imagination lay with the writer of the blurb, for "Illion Constellano" was a Connecticut Yankee "Mexican," named Julius Warren Lewis and descended from William Lewis, one of the first settlers of Hartford, who came from England in the "Lyon" in 1630!

For the novels published by Beadle under the name "Illion Constellano" see "Leon" Lewis.

REFERENCES: The New York Weekly, XIX, August 25, 1864, September 22, 1864, and October 6, 1864. See also the references and the biography given under the name Leon Lewis.