Author - Henry Rider Haggard

1. Author - Henry Rider Haggard

2. This book was first published in 1885 by Cassel & company who was more of a middle class publisher of mostly magazines Until King Solomon’s mines .

3. Authors other works • Haggard is most famous as the author of the novels King Solomon's Mines and its sequel Allan Quatermain, and She and its sequel Ayesha, all swashbucklingadventure novels set in the context of the Scramble for Africa. He is also remembered for the epic Viking romance, Eric Brighteye

4. Author summary • Henry Rider Haggard was born at Bradenham Norfolk, to Sir William Meybohm Rider Haggard, abarrister, and Ella Doveton , an author and poet. He was the eighth of ten children.born june 22 1856 He was initially sent to GarsingtonRectory in Oxfordshireto study under Reverend H. J. Graham, but unlike his older brothers who graduated from various Public schools , he ended up attending Ipswich grammar school This was because his father, who perhaps regarded him as somebody who was not going to amount to much, could no longer afford to maintain his expensive private education .Haggard’s father sent him[] to what is now South Africa in an unpaid position as assistant to the secretary to lieutenant governor of the Colony of Natal.

5. Story setting • The story of King Solomon's Mines takes place in the mid-nineteenth century, a period roughly with Haggard's own lifetime. The cities, rivers, landmarks, and tribes in the story are all real, though at the time, little was known about this part of southern Africa. The fact that Africa was unexplored increased readers' interest in the story. Many readers in fact took the book as an actual account of the author's adventures.

6. Plot summary • Allan quatermain, an English adventurer and hunter based in Durban , South Africa, is approached by an English aristocrat, Sir Henry Curtis, and his friend Captain Good, seeking his help finding Sir Henry's brother, who was last seen traveling north into the unexplored interior, on a quest for the fabled King Solomon's Mines. Quatermain possesses a mysterious map purporting to lead to the mines, but had never taken it seriously. However, he agrees to lead an expedition in return for part of the treasure, or a stipend for his son if he is killed along the way. He has little hope they will return alive. They also bring along a mysterious native, umbopa, who seems more regal, handsome and well spoken than most porters of his class, but who is very anxious to join the party Beginning

7. Middle • They are brought before King Twala, who rules over his people with ruthless violence. He came to power years before when he murdered his brother, the previous king, and drove his brother's wife and infant son, Ignosi, out into the desert to die. Twala's rule is unchallenged and an evil, impossibly ancient hag named Gagool is his chief advisor. She roots out any potential opposition by ordering regular witch hunts and murdering without trial all those identified as traitors. When she singles out Umbopa for this fate, it takes all Quatermain's skill to save his life.

8. End • The Englishmen bid farewell to a sorrowful Ignosi and return to the desert. Taking a different route, they find Sir Henry's brother stranded in an oasis by a broken leg, unable to go forward or back. They return to Durban and eventually to England, wealthy enough to live comfortable lives.

9. Literary themes • The book's immense success was the result of Haggard's ability to present such fantastic adventures in a gritty, realistic narrative. Using a first-person point of view, Quatermain tells the story in what he calls a "plain, straightforward manner the book is a adventure story with many real places and facts the conflict was a man lost his brother in the jungle and mountains of south Africa.

10. Quotes • The Almighty gave us our lives, and I suppose He meant us to defend them, at least I have always acted on that, and I hope it will not be brought up against me when my clock strikes • Out of the dark we came, into the dark we go. Like a storm-driven bird at night we fly out of the Nowhere; for a moment our wings are seen in the light of the fire, and, lo! we are gone again into the Nowhere. • Out of the dark we came, into the dark we go. Like a storm-driven bird at night we fly out of the Nowhere; for a moment our wings are seen in the light of the fire, and, lo! we are gone again into the Nowhere. • Truly the universe is full of ghosts, not sheeted churchyard spectres, but the inextinguishable elements of individual life, which having once been, can never die, though they blend and change, and change again for ever