Lost Treasure: True Tales of Hidden Hoards

by A. Hyatt Verrill

Treasures lost! Treasures buried! Treasures sunken! All of these which have been known to exist in the Western hemisphere are now described in the pages of this thrilling history by A. Hyatt Verrill. The author has ruthlessly eliminated those treasure tales for the uncontested truth of which he found no proof. Having lived for many years in South and Central America and in the West Indies, he has made the Spanish Main his stamping ground. With the energy of old adventurers, he has tracked down each legend or rumor which came to his notice, while with the thoroughness of a born researcher, he has delved into ancient records, journals and history in order to verify the facts. Loot of the Incas...the treasures of Atahualpa and Montezuma...of Captain Kidd and Brother Jonathan...of Cuzco and --these are the sparkling words which gleam from the pages of Mr. Verrill's great trove of stories like gold and silver and strings of pearls from the bottom of a Spanish casket.

-- from a printed insert glued onto the copyright page of this 1930 library binding edition (part of the Los Angeles Public Library circulating collection).

279 pages, Library Binding

First published January 1, 1930

About the author

Alpheus Hyatt Verrill, known as Hyatt Verrill, was an American zoologist, explorer, inventor, illustrator and author. He was the son of Addison Emery Verrill (1839–1926), the first professor of zoology at Yale University.

Hyatt Verrill wrote on a wide variety of topics, including natural history, travel, radio and whaling. He participated in a number of archaeological expeditions to the West Indies, South, and Central America. He travelled extensively throughout the West Indies, and all of the Americas, North, Central and South. Theodore Roosevelt stated: "It was my friend Verrill here, who really put the West Indies on the map.”

During 1896 he served as natural history editor of Webster's International Dictionary., and he illustrated many of his own writings as well. In 1902 Verrill invented the autochrome process of natural-color photography.

Among his writings are many science fiction works including twenty six published in Amazing Stories pulp magazines. Upon his death, P. Schuyler Miller noted that Verrill "was one of the most prolific and successful writers of our time," with 115 books to his credit as well as "articles in innumerable newspapers." Everett F. Bleiler described Verrill's "lost race" stories as "more literate than most of their competition, but stodgy."

When the Moon Ran Wild (1962) was published posthumously using the name Ray Ainsbury.