When ''King Solomon's Mines'' was first published in 1885 it quickly became the best selling book of the year with the publisher scrambling to print copies fast enough to meet demand. Ironically the book, which was written in less than four months and perhaps in as little as six weeks, had been rejected by numerous publishers who believed its extreme novelty left it without commercial viability.

Indeed, it was both the first example of what became the popular ''lost world'' literary genre and the first English adventure novel set in Africa. The use of the first person subjective viewpoint and a narrative composed in familiar conversational style were radical departures from the ornate language and omniscient viewpoint of the books of the day, which were for the most part obsessively focused on social class in England.

The basic outline of the tale, now a staple of adventure fiction, tells of the search, through an unexplored region of Africa, for the lost brother of Sir Henry Curtis. Curtis and his companion, Captain Good, search out Allan ''Hunter'' Quatermain, an old hand at African big-game hunting who agrees to lead the expedition despite his belief that they will likely never return. Upon realizing that Curtis' brother was searching for the lost mines of the biblical King Solomon, Quatermain produces a crude map and a letter supposedly written by a Potuguese explorer claiming to have found the fabulous diamond mines. The expedition is joined by the mysterious Umbopa, anxious to go along and willing to work as a bearer. Reaching the fabled destination, they discover a lost civilization and see Umbopa's secret revealed.

Sir Henry Rider Haggard (1856-1925) wrote ''King Solomon's Mines'' on a bet, a five shilling wager with his brother that he could write a story ''half as good'' as ''Treasure Island''. Haggard had traveled extensively in Africa as a minor government staff official during the Zulu and Boer Wars, and the Allan Quatermain character was based in large part on the colorful adventurers he encountered there. Other influences on the story included the recent discovery of diamond fields and the ruins of ancient civilizations in Africa. Returning to England, Haggard married and became a member of the bar, but soon took up writing full time.

''King Solomon's Mines'' was remarkable not only for its originality but for Haggard's attitude toward native Africans. Unusual for writers in the colonial era, Haggard declared that many Africans were more noble and admirable than many of the Europeans who arrived in Africa, and his novels include complex and heroic native characters as well as evil and barbaric natives. ''King Solomon's Mines'' even includes an interracial romance.

Haggard penned several popular novels while traveling to various parts of the Empire in the cause of land reform and, like many Victorians, dabbled in spiritualism and the paranormal. Haggard's most enduring characters, Allan Quatermain and Ayesha, were brought together in ''She and Allan'', Haggard's last major work.