In H. Rider Haggard's 1885 debut novel, King Solomon's Mines adventurer Allan Quatermain is approached by aristocrat Sir Henry Curtis and his friend Captain Good to join them on an expedition into the heart of Africa. In search of Sir Henry's brother who disappeared looking for King Solomon's lost mines, the trio overcome tremendous odds to stumble upon a lost civilization that holds the key to unimaginable treasure. Considered to be the first of the Lost World genre of popular novels, Haggard wrote the book to win a bet with his brother that he couldn't write a book half as good as Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island.
