The arrangements of the various countries described in the present volume, and the general scope of subjects, are the same as in the author's School Geography: the descriptive details are, however, extended in proportion to the enlarged dimensions of this volume. Besides such notice of our own vast republic and the various European states as the limits of the work permit, the political condition and recent changes in different countries have been particularly noticed: those of Texas, Mexico, Guatimala, the various South American territories, with Greece, Turkey, Syria, Egypt, India, and the adjacent regions, are all described with reference to their actual condition.

The chief divisions of the British Oriental Empire are exhibited somewhat in detail, and, it is hoped, more clearly and distinctly than in any former treatise of the same extent; so that they may be readily understood even by juvenile readers. This portion of Asia has been generally described so much in mass, and so obscurely, that the usual delineations of its territories have, for the most part, formed, like those of the German states, almost a geographical labyrinth.

The new Anglo-Saxon domain, whose foundations are already so widely spread over the Pacific Ocean, comprising the various divisions of Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, &c., have received a proportional share of attention. These remote regions, the scenes of some of the most striking moral events of the present age, have become of superior interest to all civilized nations, and especially to those whose language, habits, and feelings, are kindred and congenial.

The Geographical Reader is arranged to correspond, in its chief details, with MITCHELL'S SCHOOL ATLAS, so that those who already have the latter will be in possession of a suitable accompaniment to the first; and individuals who are not, may attain that object at a rate much below the price usually charged for Atlases compiled to illustrate treatises of equal extent with the present volume.

Though much care has been taken to prevent errors, yet, as in all geographical works, they must be expected more or less to occur: it is believed, however, that such exist only in a very limited degree in the following treatise; and, whenever any inaccuracies shall be discovered, they will be promptly rectified. It is the author's intention to subject the Geographical Reader to the same periodical revision as his SCHOOL GEOGRAPHY, commencing with the next census of the United States, and repeating the process every five years afterwards. As in the former case, the plan and structure of the work will be unaltered, and such changes only introduced as the progress of discovery and science demands.

Philadelphia, March, 1840.