I once answered a knock at my door to find no visitor, only the sound of footsteps disappearing down a staircase. Looking down, I found a box, containing what turned out to be first or early editions of many of Henry Rider Haggard's books. They had been collected as an anonymous gift by the girl who would eventually become my wife.

Over the years I, Emma, Dagny, and several others in Project Gutenberg have typed up or otherwise put on-line all of Haggard's fiction novels, and some of his non-fiction.

The books are listed here in roughly the order they were published.

Cetywayo and his White Neighbours (1882)
Haggard spent his early career in South Africa, and was the British official who raised the Union Jack in Pretoria when the Transvaal was annexed in 1877. This gave him a keen and abiding interest in the history and politics of the region. The English surrender after the first Boer war moved him to write this book on events in Zululand, Natal, and the Transvaal.

Dawn (1884)
Haggard's first novel was inspired by a girl he and his wife observed in church, and felt would be a good character for books they would write. His wife stopped after a few pages, but Haggard went on to write this romance of Angela Caresfoot and the passions that fought over her.

The Witch's Head (1884)
This second novel was more commercially successful, though he felt it to be a weaker book than his first, and introduced scenes from South Africa. Ernest Kershaw becomes the centre of a struggle between Florence and Eva Ceswick, and is forced to abandon the latter and live in Africa for a while after a fatal duel with a cousin.

King Solomon's Mines (1885)
Perhaps Haggard's most successful book, it was written in chambers while he worked at the Bar, and displaced his legal career. It introduces Allan Quatermain, Sir Henry Curtis, Captain John Good, and their journey after Sir Henry's brother that led them in the end to the lost mines of King Solomon.

She (1886)
Another contender for Haggard's most successful book, it was written in a little over six weeks, and did not require rewriting before it was published. The work began with the notion of an immortal woman inspired by an immortal love, and introduced Ayesha, She who must be obeyed, to the world.

Jess (1887)
The setting for this story is Haggard's own cottage and ostrich farm Hilldrop in Natal. English ex-soldier John Niel encounters sisters Jess and Bessie Croft before the first Boer war. They are caught up in the events of the war, and are tormented by Frank Muller, a Boer leader who clashes with them over Bessie.

Allan Quatermain (1887)
Quatermain, Sir Henry and Captain Good are joined by Umslopogaas on a journey to the north. They discover a civilisation, perhaps the descendants of a Persian exodus from Babylonia, called Zu-Vendis, and become involved in a civil war between the twin Queens of the Zu-Vendi people, Nyleptha and Sorais.

Colonel Quaritch, V.C. (1888)
Colonel Harold Quaritch, V.C., retires to a deceased aunt's small property next to Honham Castle, in an eastern county. He becomes involved with the affairs of his neighbour the Squire de la Molle, through his friendship with the Squire's daughter Ida and the pressure brought to bear upon the family by Edward Cossey and their lawyer William Quest.

Maiwa's Revenge (1888)
On an ivory expedition Allan Quatermain is approached by Maiwa, daughter of Chief Nala and wife of Chief Wambe, bringing a warning written in English by John Every, an old friend of Quatermain's who is held prisoner by Wambe. Together Quatermain, Nala and Maiwa face Wambe, who has made a bitter foe of his wife by murdering their child.

Mr. Meeson's Will (1888)
Writer Augusta Smithers is exploited in business by rich publisher Mr. Meeson, who disinherits his nephew Eustace on her account shortly afterwards. Augusta and Mr. Meeson meet again by chance on board a voyage to New Zealand, and she witnesses him relent towards Eustace in his will when they visit Kerguelen Island.

Allan's Wife (1889)
Project Gutenberg has seen fit to break this text up into pieces, but it was prepared from a single book, "Allan's Wife and Other Tales." The first narrative is of Quatermain's childhood meeting with Stella Carson, his father's death, his marriage to Stella, and the jealousy of Hendrika, named Babyan-frau by Indaba-zimbi, a witch-doctor who appears to be a fore-runner of Zikali.

Hunter Quatermain's Story (1889)
The second story in "Allan's Wife and Other Tales." Quatermain describes a hunting expedition that runs into trouble with lions. Then tragedy strikes as the party encounters a buffalo which kills one servant, almost kills Quatermain, then fatally gores the Zulu hunter Mashune, who speared it while it trampled Quatermain.

A Tale of Three Lions (1889)
The third story in "Allan's Wife and Other Tales." Quartermain and his son Harry go on a hunting expedition after an unsuccessful gold-mining venture, and run into three lions.

Long Odds (1889)
The fourth and last story in "Allan's Wife and Other Tales." Quatermain relates the history of a lion's head hanging on his wall, and how that lion lamed him.

Cleopatra (1889)
Harmachis, the High Priest of Sethi, born in the same year as Cleopatra, relates his history, an Egyptian plot to kill Cleopatra and restore Egyptian power, and its failure and repercussions as national interests conflict with individual passions.

Beatrice (1890)
Beatrice Granger, the younger daughter of a widowed Welsh clergyman, falls in love with a married man, Geoffrey Bingham, and is able to boost his career with her advice while remaining purely in the background, until another man turns his attentions on her.

Eric Brighteyes (1890)
Born in Iceland before the days of Christianity, Eric Brighteyes becomes embroiled in a struggle between the half-sisters Gudruda the Fair and Swanhild the Fatherless.

The World's Desire (1890)
Co-written with his friend Andrew Lang. Odysseus returns to Ithaca from a journey and finds that Penelope and his son have been slain. Broken by grief, he wanders into the Temple of Aphrodite and receives a vision that sends him in search of Argive Helen in Egypt, the land of the Queen Meriamun.

Nada the Lily (1892)
This story of Umslopogaas, named Bulalio the Slaughterer, his love for Nada the Lily, his friendship with Galazi the Wolf, and the events on Ghost Mountain, is mixed with a history of the reign of Chaka as told by Mopo, the slayer of Chaka and later of Dingaan.

Montezuma's Daughter (1893)
Thomas Winfield pursues his mother's murderer to Spain, then to the New World, where he finds himself by the side of Otomie and the Aztecs against the Spanish and their Tlascalan allies.

The People of the Mist (1894)
Leonard and Tom Outram lose their inheritance, dissipated by their father before he committed suicide, and travel to Africa to seek wealth to restore the family estate. There Leonard meets Juanna Rood and her guardian Soa, and travels to the land of Soa's people, the People of the Mist.

The Heart of the World (1895)
Don Ignatio, secret ruler of the Aztecs, and James Strickland, an Englishman who saved his life, journey to the Heart of the World, an Aztec city long hidden from the world, to aid Maya of the Heart and her father Zibalbay, Don Ignatio's equal at the head of the great brotherhood of Mexico.

Joan Haste (1895)
Joan Haste, raised in humble circumstances as an orphan, uncovers the secrets of her life as she suffers for her love of Captain Henry Archibald Graves, manipulated by his family to marry for wealth.

Wizard (1896)
The Rev. Thomas Owen gives up a life of ease and follows his vocation to Central Africa, to preach to the Amasuka, the People of Fire. There he struggles against the powerful influence of the witch-doctor Hokosa and his wife Noma, while the two princes Nodwengo and Hafela fight over the throne.

Doctor Therne (1898)
The tragic story of Dr. Therne's opposition to smallpox vaccination for purely political motives.

Swallow: A Tale of the Great Trek (1899)
Ralph Kenzie, an English boy, is found after a shipwreck by Suzanne Botmar, a Boer girl whose family lives in the Transkei. Ralph and Suzanne fall foul of Piet Van Vooren, known as Swart Piet, not long before the Boers start on their great trek away from the English.

Elissa (1900)
Aziel, a grandson of Solomon and a prince of Israel, travels by caravan with the Phoenician Metem and the stern Levite Issachar to Zimboe, in what is now Zimbabwe. There he meets Elissa, the daughter of the city's governor and a priestess of Baaltis, and risks the destruction of Zimboe by king Ithobal and his Tribes.

Black Heart and White Heart (1900)
A story of the courtship, trials and final union of a pair of Zulu lovers in the time of King Cetywayo.

Lysbeth, A Tale of the Dutch (1901)
The troubled legacy of Lysbeth van Hout and Count Don Juan de Montalvo, told against the background of the war for independence from Spain in the Netherlands.

A Winter Pilgrimage (1901)
Haggard and a nephew travel to Jerusalem and back, journeying through France, Switzerland, Italy, Cyprus, and Palestine. The narrative starts in Milan.

Pearl-Maiden (1903)
Miriam, the Pearl Maiden, is born to a Christian mother who dies giving birth during the reign of Agrippa. She is raised by the Essenes, along with a Jewish boy named Caleb, and there when grown she meets Marcus, a Roman. The three meet again when the Jews defend Jerusalem against Vespasian Caesar's son Titus.

Stella Fregelius (1903)
Morris Monk, a dreamer and inventor working on the aerophone, a form of wireless communication, makes a comfortable marriage with Mary Porson. It prospers till Morris rescues the spiritual Stella Fregelius from a shipwreck.

The Brethren (1904)
Rosamund, the niece of Saladin, is kidnapped in Essex by his agents and carried back to the East. Her cousins Godwin and Wulf d'Arcy follow. Rosamund's captors are intercepted by Sinan, named the Old Man of the Mountain and lord of the Assassins. The brothers find a path to him with the aid of the young widow Masouda.

Ayesha (1905)
Leo Vincey and Horace Holly, pining in England for Ayesha, receive a vision that sends them in search of her again at a mountain peak shaped like the Symbol of Life. Many years later, near death from starvation and cold, they find a remote Buddhist monastery that sets them on the right path to their goal.

Benita (1906)
Also known as "The Spirit of Bambatse." Benita Clifford is hypnotised by Jacob Meyer in order to recall the spirit of Benita da Ferreira, who died hundreds of years before. She was the last of a group of Portuguese who were starved to death in their fortress at Bambatse by the natives who rose against them. They buried their gold before they died, and there it remained under the protection of Benita's spirit.

The Way of the Spirit (1906)
Rupert Ullershaw, involved with a fatal domestic tragedy in the Devene family, joins the army and departs overseas. Years later he is serving in Egypt when he receives news of his mother's illness and returns home, to meet up again with his childhood acquaintances Edith Bonnythorne and Dick Learner. Straight after his marriage to Edith he is shipped back out to Egypt on a Government mission, where he encounters Mea, the Queen of a desert people.

Fair Margaret (1907)
Peter Brome comes to the defence of his cousin Margaret Castell, in the time of King Henry VII., when she is molested by a Scottish mercenary in the pay of the mysterious Spaniard d'Aguilar. Margaret's father, John Castell, keeps a secret that makes him open to deadly threats from Spain.

The Ghost Kings (1908)
Rachel Dove becomes the Inkosazana-y-Zoola, the Nomkubulwana, the Spirit of the Zulu people in the time of Dingaan. Shattered by her sufferings, she is taken far north to the land of the Ghost People.

The Yellow God (1908)
The Asiki worship the yellow God, represented by Big Bonsa and Little Bonsa, the latter of which sits in a London City office making the fortune of the owners of the Sahara Syndicate. Alan Vernon leaves the syndicate, at odds with his partners over the nature of its business and over the future of Barbara Champers-Howell, and returns to Africa with Little Bonsa to try and make his fortune.

The Lady of Blossholme (1909)
The story of Cicily Foterell and Christopher Harflete when King Henry VIII. ruled in England and Clement Maldon the Spaniard was abbot at Blossholme.

Queen Sheba's Ring (1909)
After his son is kidnapped by Mahdi tribesmen, Richard Adams traces him to the Fung tribe in North Central Africa. He narrowly escapes them, and returns to England to enlist the help of Professor Higgs and Captain Oliver Orme. He was helped to escape by Maqueda, the Queen of the Abati, named the Bud of the Rose. The Abati are oppressed by the Fung, but she believes they can be freed if the Fung's idol, a Sphinx named Harmac, can be destroyed, and gives him a token to prove her story. The token is Queen Sheba's ring.

Morning Star (1910)
Princess Neter-Tua, called Morning Star of Amen, is born in ancient Egypt, eclipsing her ambitious uncle Prince Abi. She works out her destiny with her childhood friend Rames, while Abi, his astrologer Kaku, and Merytra, Lady of the Footstool, stand against her.

Regeneration (1910)
Haggard was personally acquainted with General Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, from when he wrote an earlier book about rural life. In this book he writes an account of the social work of the Army in England.

The Mahatma and the Hare (1911)
Despite one of his greatest characters being a hunter by trade, Haggard grew to be less enthusiastic about hunting. In this dream-tale, the Red-faced Man and the Hare killed by his son both die and meet again in the queue before the Gates of Heaven.

Red Eve (1911)
Eve Clavering breaks the news to her cousin Hugh de Cressi that her father wants her to marry Sir Edmund Acour, a wealthy Frenchman. Pursued by Sir Edmund and Eve's brother, the two take refuge with Father Arnold, once a Templar Knight before the Order was dispersed.

Marie (1912)
Marie Marais and Allan Quatermain are educated together as children. A cousin of Marie's, Hernan Pereira, becomes involved with Pieter Retief in the organisation of the Great Trek that the Boers are contemplating. Marie and Allan incur the hatred of Hernan and of Marie's bigoted father. Allan and Hans accompany Pieter Retief and the Boer Commission on their tragic embassy to the Zulu despot, Dingaan.

Haggard referred to this book as the first in the epic of the vengeance of Zikali and of the fall of the House of Senzangakona.

Child of Storm (1913)
Allan Quatermain encounters the ambitious and beautiful Mameena, named Child of Storm. He also meets the ancient wizard Zikali, named Opener-of-Roads, for the first time, and hears something of his history with Chaka and Dingaan. Mameena's heart falls to Macumazahn, while her energy and her life go into the politics of the Zulu people.

Haggard referred to this book as the second in the epic of the vengeance of Zikali and of the fall of the House of Senzangakona.

The Wanderer's Necklace (1914)
Olaf the Dane, son of Thorvald, is dared by his fiancé Iduna the Fair to recover a necklace from an ancient tomb, and is helped to do so by his old nurse Freydisa. They find that the warrior in the tomb, known as the Wanderer, is an ancestor of Olaf's mother. Olaf has a dream in which the Wanderer is given the necklace as a token by a princess in the South before they are forced to part. It is only half of the original necklace, and she keeps the other half.

Allan and the Holy Flower (1915)
After an incident with a leopard Allan Quatermain's hunting partner Charles Scroope is near death, when Brother John, an eccentric wanderer who is skilled in medicine, arrives and saves his life. He tells Quatermain of an orchid he has recovered from the land of the Pongo, a people who live on an island surrounded by great swamps next to the territory of the Mazitu. Quatermain takes it back to England, where "Odontoglossum Pavo" is sold at auction for £2,300 to Stephen Somers.

The Ivory Child (1916)
While in England with Charles Scroope, Allan Quatermain is introduced to Lord Ragnall and his fiancé, Miss Holmes. During a dinner at Ragnall Castle Quatermain is sought out by two priests and doctors of the White Kendah People, Harūt and Marūt, who refer to Mameena as being of their wizardly company. They have come to ask Quatermain to kill the elephant-god Jana, the god of the Black Kendah, and give a necklace to Miss Holmes. Two years later Lord Ragnall visits Quatermain in South Africa. Lady Ragnall has disappeared.

Finished (1917)
This is the last book in the epic of the vengeance of Zikali and of the fall of the House of Senzangakona, following on from "Marie" and "Child of Storm." Quatermain goes hunting with Maurice Anscombe, and they meet Mr. Marnham and his daughter Heda, before being forced to flee with Heda from the unwanted attentions of Marnham's partner Dr. Rodd and his Basuto allies.

Love Eternal (1918)
Godfrey Knight and Isobel Blake are born within six months of each other, one the son of a clergyman and the other the daughter of a hard-nosed and wealthy businessman, John Blake, the owner of Monk's Acre where the Rev. Mr. Knight is rector.

Moon of Israel (1918)
The story of Ana the scribe, son of Meri, and of events that happened in his day in Egypt. He was born on the same day as Seti Meneptah the second, and tells of Merapi, named Moon of Israel, and of the Hebrews and their exodus from Egypt.

When the World Shook (1919)
Humphrey Arbuthnot, successful in business and retired early in life, drifts bored and purposeless till he meets again with two old friends from college, the religious Basil Bastin and the confirmed atheist Dr. Bickley. After Arbuthnot experiences a personal tragedy, the trio leave England and travel to the South Seas.

The Ancient Allan (1920)
Lady Ragnall finds out by chance that Allan Quatermain is still alive and in England, and she writes to invite him to Ragnall Castle. Lord Ragnall has been killed in an accident in Egypt. Lady Ragnall persuades Quatermain to smoke Taduki, a herb she received from the priesthood of Kendah, and they share a vision of their past as Shabaka and the Royal Lady of Amada, prophetess to the temple of Isis and Horus the Child.

She and Allan (1921)
After reading the book She, Allan Quatermain decides to publish his notes, made many years earlier, about an expedition he had made accompanied by Hans and Umslopogaas of the Axe. He sought out Zikali, named by the Zulus the Opener-of-Roads, to see if there was a way to speak to the dead. Zikali had spoken with Ayesha in dreams, and had a question of his own to ask her, so he directed Quatermain to Kōr, giving him a token to present to the Queen.

Smith and the Pharaohs, and Other Tales (1920)
In "Smith and the Pharaohs," James Ebenezer Smith, who has fallen in love with an image of the Queen Ma-Mee, is stuck in a museum in Cairo overnight.

"Magepa the Buck" is a story told by Allan Quatermain as an example of great courage and unselfish devotion.

"The Blue Curtains" is a tragedy of love.

Tabitha Bull, the daughter of English missionary Thomas Bull, is named "Little Flower" by Menzi, the witch-doctor of the people that her father has come to convert.

"Only a Dream" is a man's vision of his first wife on the night before he is to marry again.

"Barbara who came back" is a spiritual story about trial and redemption.

The Virgin of the Sun (1922)
The history of Hubert of Hastings, written among the Inca in Tavantinsuyu, far from England where he would never return, being a wanderer as the rune upon the sword of his ancestor, Thorgrimmer, foretold. The sword, named Wave-Flame, was passed to Hubert by his mother, who told him that the runes on the sword read:

"He who lifts Wave-Flame on high
In love shall live and in battle die;
Storm-tossed o'er wide seas shall roam
And in strange lands shall make his home.
Conquering, conquered shall he be,
And far away shall sleep with me."

Wisdom's Daughter (1923)
The last book concerning Ayesha, this is her account of her history, written not long before she and Leo are to marry, and before Leo has bathed in the Fire of Life.

Heu-Heu (1924)
Allan Quatermain and the Hottentot Hans lose two oxen in a lightning storm, and flee with their Zulu companions into a cave. Hans had been there years before when he lived with Bushmen, and shows Quatermain a picture of an ancient creature, named Heu-Heu, painted deeper in the cave.

Queen of the Dawn (1925)
Nefra the Princess is born to Kheperra the King and Rima the Queen, daughter of the King of Babylon, shortly before the King was defeated by Apepi, the King of the Shepherds. The Queen and Nefra take refuge with the Prophet Roy, of the Order of the Dawn, based by the pyramids near Memphis.

Days of my Life: An Autobiography Volume 1 (1926)
Days of my Life: An Autobiography Volume 2 (1926)
This autobiography was written by Haggard in 1912 and sent to C. J. Longman, to be put away in a safe and published after his death. Haggard passed away on May 14, 1925, and these books were published the following year.

Treasure of the Lake (1926)
A letter from an old acquaintance, Brother Ambrose, sets Allan Quatermain and Hans on the path of the Dabanda, an unusual people who live near Mone, the Holy Lake.

Allan and the Ice-Gods (1927)
Lady Ragnall dies suddenly of heart disease at the very spot in Egypt where Lord Ragnall was buried. She has left Allan Quatermain the sole executor of her will, and although she gives him freedom to dispense the Ragnall fortune as he wishes, she enjoins him to keep the Taduki she had been given by the priesthood of Kendah. It reveals a past life of Allan's as Wi the Hunter, the chief of a little ice-age tribe living between a glacier and the sea, unaware that there are other people besides themselves.

Mary of Marion Isle (1929)
The story of Andrew West, the nephew of Lord Atterton, Clara Maunsell, his cousin, and a shipwrecked girl on Marion Island.

Belshazzar (1930)
The history of events in his lifetime, as told by Ramose the son of the Pharaoh Uah-ab-Ra, known to the Greeks as Apries, and one of his Grecian women, Chloe. He writes at Memphis serving as governor under Darius the Persian, and was a witness to the fall of Babylon to Cyrus the Great when Belshazzar was king.