Literary Birthday – 22 June – Henry Rider Haggard

Henry Rider Haggard was born on 22 June 1856 and died on 14 May 1925.

Henry Rider Haggard Quotes

1. There is no loneliness like the loneliness of crowds, especially to those who are unaccustomed to them.
2. It is curious to look back and realise upon what trivial and apparently coincidental circumstances great events frequently turn as easily and naturally as a door on its hinges.
3. I have never observed that the religious are more eager to die than the rest of us poor mortals.
4. There are things and there are faces which, when felt or seen for the first time, stamp themselves upon the mind like a sun image on a sensitised plate and there remain unalterably fixed.
5. The great wheel of Fate rolls on like a Juggernaut, and crushes us all in turn, some soon, some late

Sir Henry Rider Haggard was an English writer of adventure novels set in exotic locations, predominantly Africa. His speculative fiction is defined by his ‘Lost World’ works, which feature fantastical elements, exotic settings, and the discovery of lost civilisations. His most famous novels are his romantic adventure King Solomon’s Mines and She: A History of Adventure. His stories are on the lighter end of Victorian literature and included his 18 Allan Quatermain stories beginning with King Solomon’s Mines. She is considered to be one of the classics of imaginative literature and with 83 million copies sold by 1965, it is one of the bestselling books in history. He was appointed a Knight Bachelor in 1912, and a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in the 1919 New Year Honours. His memoir, The Days of My Life: An Autobiography was published posthumously.

Source for image: By Unknown (Bain News Service, publisher), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Henry_Rider_Haggard_03.jpg

by Amanda Patterson
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