The Lost Race Story. Stories in which unknown lands and races
are discovered have been written for centuries, but in the last
two decades of the 19th century a new type of story involving
their discovery was created. The genre began with the 1885
publication of H. Rider Haggard’s King Solomon’s Mines and the
1887 publication of Haggard’s Allan Quatermain. These stories
created the blueprint for dozens of writers to follow and
established the Lost Race story. Lost Race stories can be
defined as stories in which travelers from the modern world
discover lost, forgotten, or hidden races, cities, cultures and
civilizations in hidden or remote valleys or undersea or
underground areas on or beneath the Earth. 19th century writers
before Haggard wrote versions of the Lost Race story. Historical
romances using Lost Race themes and motifs written appeared
before King Solomon’s Mines. Several writers created works
similar to Haggard’s, including Lady Mary Fox’s Account of an
Expedition to the Interior of New Holland (18