D. Howard (David Howard) Gwinn

David Howard Gwinn was an American author born on September 16, 1857, in Curlsville, Pennsylvania, and he died on November 1, 1938, in Opportunity, Washington. Reliable sources about his life are very sparse, and even major reference works note that little is known about him beyond his writing career.

He is remembered for The Gold of Ophir, published in New York by F. Tennyson Neely in 1898. The novel blends Western adventure, mining-camp realism, lost-world fantasy, and biblical speculation, following a search that leads into an underground civilization.

Because so little biographical detail has survived, Gwinn stands as one of those intriguing almost-forgotten authors whose reputation rests on a single unusual book. That rarity is part of his appeal today, especially for readers interested in obscure early American fantasy and science fiction.