King Solomons Mines »

Sir Rider Haggard was a British Victorian writer known for his adventure novels set is exotic places. His writings are sympathetic to the natives. He often portrayed Africans as heroic in his stories even though the main characters are usually European. King Solomon's Mines is first book in the Allan Quartermain series. Alan Quartermain was the main character in the succeeding novel Marie. He also appears in several sequels. Quartermain was a progressive Victorian. He was a big game hunter in Africa who championed the cause of the natives. King Solomon's Mines tells of a quest into an unexplored region of Africa by Allan Quatermain and a group of adventurers. They are searching for the missing brother of one of the party. The book is significant because it was the first English fictional adventure novel set in Africa

Gale Research

As legend has it, Haggard wagered that he could produce a tale equal to Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, which was enormously popular at that time. The result was King Solomon's Mines, an exhilarating account of adventurer Allan Quatermain's search for lost treasure in Africa. During his quest, Quatermain nearly freezes to death in the mountains, becomes a captive of barbaric natives, and narrowly avoids a dangerous trap while recovering lost diamonds. This exciting tale, though perceived as somewhat slapdash in style by some reviewers, found considerable favor with English readers. As Andrew Lang noted in an 1885 edition of Saturday Review, "Since Treasure Island we have seen no such healthily exciting volume." In 1987,Armchair Detective contributor Robert Sandels commented that King Solomon's Mines "has an appeal and durability which leads one to wonder if it isn't more than just a well-told tale."