AS Mr. Woodbury stated in his introduction to the original edition of this book, in order to avoid misunderstanding, it would be well to explain at the outset that it is not intended as an instruction book in the art of photography in any sense of the word. It is assumed that the reader has already mastered the technical difficulties of photographic practice and is able to make a good negative or print.

It was the purpose of the author to describe a number of novel and curious effects that can be obtained by the aid of the camera, together with some instructive and interesting photographic experiments.

The contents of the work were compiled from various sources, chiefly from "The Photographic Times," "The Scientific American," "The American Annual of Photography," "La Nature," "Photographischer Zeitvertreib," by Herman Schnauss, and "Les Recreations Photographiques," by A. Bergeret et F. Drewin; and the illustrations were likewise taken from various sources.

In conclusion the author or compiler modestly lays claim to very little himself, quoting the words of Montaigne, who said:—

"I have gathered me a posie of other men's flowers, of which nothing but the thread that binds them is mine own."

And yet so popular did the book prove that in the course of its first ten years of life, it ran through edition after edition.

The publishers of "The Photographic Times" later acquired the copyright of the popular volume and published three editions.

The publishers of American Photography acquired the book during the Great War through their purchase of "The Photographic Times," but in spite of a steady demand for the book after the limited stock had been sold out, did not find it advisable to reprint it until now.

In putting the book to press at this time, most of the original plates have been used. A number of the old pictures have been replaced by more modern examples and 14 pages have been added to the book, including several new topics.

The publishers would be glad to receive manuscripts and pictures describing and illustrating novel and interesting photographic effects not mentioned in this volume, to be published in American Photography and incorporated in the next edition of Photographic Amusements. They also request that photographers who make photographs illustrating any of the topics treated in the book, and especially those illustrated by wood cuts, may submit them for consideration, as they are prepared to purchase such as may seem available for the next edition.

Frank Roy Fraprie.

Boston, January, 1922.