[1] Before being published in book form, The Curse of Capistrano appeared as five serialized installments in the pulp magazine All-Story Weekly.

[2] In 1920, the story was adapted as the silent film The Mark of Zorro starring Douglas Fairbanks as the hero Don Diego Vega.

The title was a reference to the hero's habit of marking enemies or surfaces with three sword cuts, forming a letter "Z."

The film met with enormous success, leading to public demand for more Zorro stories.

[4] The book tells of the story of Californio Don Diego Vega, alias 'Señor Zorro', in the company of his deaf and mute servant Bernardo and his lover Lolita Pulido, as they oppose the villainous Captain Ramon and Sgt.