The reader should grasp clearly the date at which this book was written. It was done in 1907: it appeared in various magazines as a serial in 1908 and it was published in the Fall of that year. At that time the aeroplane was, for most people, merely a rumour and the “Sausage” held the air. The contemporary reader has all the advantage of ten years' experience since this story was imagined. The book is weak on anti-aircraft guns, for example, and still more negligent of submarines.
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. This has been published with the best technology to reproduce historical work in the same manner it was first published to preserve its original nature.