g home wonderful stories of unknown lands.

In the construction of this publication, the object is not to tell
stories or relate experiences, but to exhibit, by carefully taken
photographs, the great sights of the world as they exist to-day.

The art of teaching with pictures is very old. The ancient Egyptians
used emblems and designs to record the various incidents of their
history, traces of which are still found on obelisks and ruined
temples.

Wood illustrations were also introduced many years ago; and as
time rolled on, marked improvements were made in the art of
wood-engraving. Notwithstanding the fact that they have not the
power of truly representing the original objects they intend to
portray, they are still largely used for illustrating printed books
and papers.

Over a century ago, the art of photography was made known to the
world by Scheele, a Swedish chemist; since then, many improvements
have been made in this art, until now, by the photo-electro process,
an exact photograph can be transferred on a copper plate, without
losing a single line or shade, and from this plate, photographs
can be printed, such as appear in this book.

Owing to the increasing popularity of the graphic and pictorial
methods of imparting information, the photographic camera was employed
to secure photographs of the greatest things of the world as seen
to-day, both for instruction and entertainment.

We forget knowledge acquired by common conversation, and descriptions
of places and things; but when we observe them, and their forms
are conveyed to our minds through the medium of our eyes, they
are indelibly impressed upon the memory.

The object, then, of this Publication is to present photographs
of all the great sights of the world, from every corner of the
globe, carefully reproducing them by the photo-electro process,
and adding a few lines of explanation to every picture, so that
any one can comprehend each subject.

To make this collection, every country was carefully ransacked,
starting in Ireland, with the famous Blarney Castle and Lakes of
Killarney in the south, and extending to the Giant's Causeway in
the north, said by an old legend to have been built by giants to
form a road across the channel to Scotland.

Passing through Scotland, we photographed its hills, castles, lochs,
bridges and cities. Throughout Wales and England, we represent their
busy seaport and manufacturing towns; the home of Shakespeare,
th