Over a century after the debut of the intrepid hunter explorer Allan Quatermain in King Solomon's Mines (1885), he remains one of the great heroes of literature whose adventures have been adapted for cinema and television. The most famous of Rider Haggard's dozen novels about him - including She, Allan Quatermain and Allan and the Ice Gods - have been regularly reprinted for new generations of readers. But aside from these, there is also a novelette, Allan's Wife and four short stories of his adventures which have never been collected in one volume. Peter Haining's collection is finally that volume. He introduces the stories with a detailed resume of Rider Haggard's life and career from 1856 to his death in 1925, and a provides information about the inspiration and creation of Allan Quatermain. He also provides a chronology of the explorer's life linked to the novels and stories so that new readers can follow his career to his death in 1885.