<Tr> <Th> Pages </Th> <Td> 320 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Followed by </Th> <Td> Allan Quatermain </Td> </Tr> <P> King Solomon's Mines (1885) is a popular novel by the English Victorian adventure writer and fabulist Sir H. Rider Haggard . It tells of a search of an unexplored region of Africa by a group of adventurers led by Allan Quatermain for the missing brother of one of the party . It is the first English adventure novel set in Africa, and is considered to be the genesis of the Lost World literary genre . </P> <P> The book was first published in September 1885 amid considerable fanfare, with billboards and posters around London announcing "The Most Amazing Book Ever Written". It became an immediate best seller . By the late 19th century, explorers were uncovering ancient civilisations around the world, such as Egypt's Valley of the Kings, and the empire of Assyria . Inner Africa remained largely unexplored and King Solomon's Mines, the first novel of African adventure published in English, captured the public's imagination . </P>

Who wrote the novel king solomon's mines