The Witch’s Head is the second novel by H. Rider Haggard, which he wrote just prior to King Solomon’s Mines. Haggard wrote the novel following his debut effort Dawn. He was unable to find any magazine that would serialise the story, but it was accepted for publication by the firm that had put out Dawn. Haggard later wrote that ‘although, except for the African part, it is not in my opinion so good a story as Dawn,  it was extremely well received and within certain limits very successful.’ The book was a minor success, earning Haggard a profit of fifty pounds.