AUTHOR’S NOTE
The author ventures to take this opportunity to thank his readers for the kind
reception they have accorded to the successive editions of this tale during the
last twelve years. He hopes that in its present form it will fall into the
hands of an even wider public, and that in years to come it may continue to
afford amusement to those who are still young enough at heart to love a story
of treasure, war, and wild adventure.
Ditchingham,
11 March, 1898.
POST SCRIPTUM
Now, in 1907, on the occasion of the issue of this edition, I can only add how
glad I am that my romance should continue to please so many readers.
Imagination has been verified by fact; the King Solomon’s Mines I dreamed
of have been discovered, and are putting out their gold once more, and,
according to the latest reports, their diamonds also; the Kukuanas or, rather,
the Matabele, have been tamed by the white man’s bullets, but still there
seem to be many who find pleasure in these simple pages. That they may continue
so to do, even to the third and fourth generation, or perhaps longer still,
would, I am sure, be the hope of our old and departed friend, Allan
Quatermain.
H. Rider Haggard.
Ditchingham, 1907.