The Russo-Japanese War was notable for the fact that, although there were more men on the spot ready to transmit the news to the world than there have been in any other war in modern times, there never has been a war since the days of the telegraph and the professional correspondent the daily news of which the world at large knew so little. There is, therefore, a unique interest in so vivid and comprehensive a pictorial history as that gathered by Collier’s correspondent photographers and presented in the following pages. Practically all the photographs, with the exception of a very few of those depicting scenes in Russia’ and with the Russian forces, were taken originally and exclusively for Collier’s, and they have not appeared elsewhere except by special arrangement and permission. A large number of these photographs have never been printed in Collier’s, and they are published in this book for the first time. Even these were chosen from many hundreds of others, and they represent but a small part of the great mass of photographs which were secured by Collier’s indefatigable representatives at the front. In each weekly issue of Collier’s it was obviously impossible to devote more than a few pages exclusively to war pictures, and in such a small space it is a task of exceeding difficulty to convey to the casual reader any adequate realization of the unique value and the comprehensive extent of Collier’s Russo-Japanese War service. In this book the cumulative effect of many pictures helps to give at least a partial idea of the amount of material gathered by Collier’s correspondents, and it should be further explained that almost every one of the pictures herein reproduced is chosen from perhaps a dozen or score of photographs of similar scenes. [Illustration: MUTSUHITO EMPEROR OF JAPAN, WHO BEGAN THE WAR ]