Name: Arthur Conan Doyle's 'The Lost World'
Author: Arthur Conan Doyle

One striking feature of 'King Solomon’s Mines', in its original editions, was that it contained a fold-out map of the mysterious and invented African region in which the action took place – Rider Haggard in his turn writing the novel partly in response to 'Treasure Island' (1883), with its celebrated map of its eponymous site of thrilling adventure (Malone, 2024). 

The paratextual, yet in-story elements create a real sense of vivid credibility to otherwise extraordinary narratives and Conan Doyle was similarly inspired to use these and other visual elements to provoke in his readers an immersive suspension of disbelief. This included the use of ‘doctored photographs’ from an actual work on paleozoology, E. Ray Lankester’s (1847–1929) 'Extinct Animals' (1905), as well as a ‘picture of the “members” of the expedition’, the role of Professor Challenger performed by Conan Doyle himself, in a wig and large beard.

There are also three maps, likely drawn by Conan Doyle. They are intentionally only sketches rather than polished illustrations, as though torn from an explorer's notebook, once again adding to the verisimilitude of the narrative. One is subtitled ‘MALONE’S ROUGH MAP OF THE JOURNEY TO THE CLIFFS’ tracing the journey from the Amazon to the seemingly impassable face of the mysterious plateau. The other is a ‘ROUGH CHART OF MAPLE WHITE LAND’, referring to the name they bestow upon the new region. The story of the creation of the maps is a key plot point of the narrative, with the journalist Malone able to prove his value to the expedition by ascending a vast tree to gain the necessary view of the plateau to make the survey.

The reader is given little detail but nevertheless a clear sense of the topographical relationships between the expedition’s camp, the forest, the caves, and other discoveries. It is signed ‘EDM’, the initials of the character who drew it, again reinforcing its in-story status as an artefact. Conan Doyle went to a great deal of effort to provide a deep sense of authenticity and credibility to his incredible adventure among the dinosaurs. The other map in the book looks at first glance like a runic inscription, and is presented to the explorers by one of the indigenous tribesmen they form an alliance with. In fact, it is a chart of the hillside caves and provides them with the key to their escape from the plateau.

Ex Carta

Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World recounts Professor Challenger’s expedition to a remote South American plateau where prehistoric creatures survive in isolation. Sketch maps – presented as rough field drawings – trace the route to the plateau and the newly discovered ‘Maple White Land’, lending the adventure a sense of documentary realism.

While usually remembered for his creation of the iconic detective Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) was a prolific author who over his decades-long writing career also wrote historical fiction and many novels and short stories across genres, including science fiction and horror. In short stories such as 

 (1910) he had also explored the theme of encounters with monstrous animals, one which he definitively developed into the novel 

The novel concerns the escapades of the eccentric Professor Challenger and his party of fellow explorers as they find their way to an unexplored plateau in South America, whose isolation and inaccessibility has led to the survival of a relict population of various dinosaurs, as well as prehuman hominins. Published in 1912, it went on to lend its name to an entire genre of books, films, and comic strips. This is not to say that 

 did not emerge from a tradition, and Conan Doyle was partially inspired by 

 (1885), a hugely successful adventure romance by H. Rider Haggard (1856–1925).

As well as literary forbears, Conan Doyle found grist to his imagination in meetings with explorers such as the American explorer Commander Robert Peary (1856–1920), whom he met in 1910 (Lycett, 2007). During this same period, Conan Doyle was heavily involved in the campaign against Belgian outrages in the Congo, and was a good friend of fellow campaigner Roger Casement (1864–1916). Casement had also travelled extensively in Brazil and Peru, possibly a useful source for Conan Doyle’s South-American-set tale. More generally, Conan Doyle lamented, like Joseph Conrad, a modern sense that the world had become diminished as the mysterious, empty spaces of the map were being filled in by the energetic European exploration of the previous half century (Malone, 2024).

(1899), in which the protagonist Marlowe, seeking the unknown places of the earth, finds only existential despair, the company of 

 find dinosaurs and rollicking adventure. Conan Doyle’s vision of the peril and wonder of the discovery of still-living prehistoric animals directly inspired numerous other works such as Edgar Rice Burroughs's (1875–1950) 

 (1993) updated Conan Doyle’s vision with some contemporary science and tech philosophy, the basic conceit remained very much intact: humans fleeing terrifying and enormous prehistoric monsters.

Sketch Map by E. D. Malone to the Cliffs and Maple White Land

Title page with portrait of Professor Challenger, and inscribed 'Yours truly, (to use the unconventional lie), George Edward Challenger.'

Foreword and quote from Arthur Conan Doyle: 'I have wrought my simple plan, If I give one hour of joy, To the boy who's half a man, Or the man who's half a boy.'

Photographic portrait of Professor Challenger in his study (Arthur Conan Doyle dressed in character)

Chromolithograph of a watercolour completed by Maple White showing the Plateau, with the Pinnacle and Tree visible. Artwork by Harry Rountree. 

Photo-lithograph of the waterfall at the Plateau, taken by Prof. Challenger.

Photo-lithograph showing the members of the Exploring Party (left to right): E. D. Malone from the Daily Gazette, Prof. Summerlee, Prof. Challenger, and Lord John Roxton. Again for this portrait, Arthur Conan Doyle dressed up as Prof. Challenger. 

Illustration of The Monster from Maple White's sketchbook. Artwork by Harry Rountree.

Chromolithograph of a watercolour completed by Maple White showing the Pinnacle and the Tree at the Plateau. Artwork by Harry Rountree.

Photo-lithograph of the Plateau, from the stony plan on the North East. 

Photo-lithograph showing the 'First Footprint in Maple White Land.

Illustration showing the Glade of the Iguanadons, 'reconstructed by Mr Pat L. Forbes from sketch by E. D. Malone'. Artwork by Harry Rountree.

Illustration showing the Swamp of the Pterodactyls, 'reconstructed by Mr Pat L. Forbes from sketch by E. D. Malone'. Artwork by Harry Rountree.

Illustration showing the 'General View of the Plateau from the top of Ginko Tree, 'reconstructed by Mr Pat L. Forbes from sketch by E. D. Malone'. Artwork by Harry Rountree.

Illustration showing the Central Lake, 'reconstructed by Mr Pat L. Forbes from sketch by E. D. Malone'. Artwork by Harry Rountree.

Endpapers for The Lost World

Conan Doyle was inspired to use these and other visual elements to provoke in his readers an immersive suspension of disbelief. This included the use of ‘doctored photographs’ from an actual work on paleozoology, E. Ray Lankester’s (1847–1929) 

 (1905), as well as a ‘picture of the “members” of the expedition’, the role of Professor Challenger performed by Conan Doyle himself, in a wig and large beard (Lycett, 2007).

There are also three maps, likely drawn by Conan Doyle. They are intentionally only sketches rather than polished illustrations, as though torn from an explorer's notebook, once again adding to the verisimilitude of the narrative. One is subtitled ‘MALONE’S ROUGH MAP OF THE JOURNEY TO THE CLIFFS’ tracing the journey from the Amazon to the seemingly impassable face of the mysterious plateau. The other is a ‘ROUGH CHART OF MAPLE WHITE LAND’, referring to the name they bestow upon the new region. The story of a creation of the maps is a key plot point of the narrative, with the journalist Malone able to prove his value to the expedition by ascending a vast tree to gain the necessary view of the plateau to make the survey.

The reader is given little detail but nevertheless a clear sense of the topographical relationships between the expedition’s camp, the forest, the caves, and other discoveries. It is signed ‘EDM’, the initials of the character who drew it, again reinforcing its in-story status as an artefact. Conan Doyle went to a great deal of effort to provide a deep sense of authenticity and credibility to his incredible adventure among the dinosaurs. The other map in the book looks at first glance like a runic inscription, and is presented to the explorers by one of the indigenous tribesmen they form an alliance with. In fact, it is a chart of the hillside caves and provides them with the key to their escape from the plateau.

The Lost World

Arthur Conan Doyle's 'The Lost World'

Being an Account of the Recent Amazing Adventures of Professor George E. Challenger, Lord John Roxton, Professor Summerlee, and Mr. E. D. Malone of the "Daily Gazette"