It is desired to point out that the nature of the subject with which this work deals rendered it inevitable that it should to some extent assume an encyclopædic rather than a narrative character. The innumerable sources from which Zionism draws its being, the geographical dispersion of the Jewish people, the many events and phenomena outside of the life of the Jewish people which have had and still have their bearing on the development of the Jewish National idea, give it inevitably the form that it has assumed. The author is well aware that the History of Zionism as narrated in these pages does not appear as altogether a symmetrical structure. Some periods dealt with in the story are somewhat disjointed, and as a necessary consequence the record of those periods reflects the same character. A writer who cared more for the form than for the correctness of the narrative would in such a case have recourse to his imagination in order to fill in the blanks. The present author has not, however, done so. He has attempted rather to let Zionism appear as it really was in the different countries and epochs with which he has dealt. Where his narrative is fragmentary events were fragmentary. In the earliest periods the different elements of Zionism were sometimes completely detached from one another. An exact description of these therefore takes necessarily an encyclopædic character. But Zionism develops as a unity, and at the end it will be found to offer to the reader a united picture. The present book treats of the History of Zionism especially in England and France, but it has been found both impossible and also undesirable to exclude from the narrative all references to certain important events and personalities of other countries. Zionism in England and France, however, forms the main thesis of these volumes. Furthermore, this book is not only a history of the Zionist efforts among the Jews, it also narrates the history of similar efforts by non-Jews, in connexion with political events and literary manifestations in the countries in which they worked. At the same time the author has endeavoured as little as possible to cover ground that has already been repeatedly traversed, his intention being rather to break new ground and especially to bring to light hitherto unknown sources, old and forgotten prints, unpublished manuscripts and archives. These he has used to illustrate and document his narrative. The plan which the author has followed falls under three headings:―― (I.) The special treatment of Zionism in England and France; (II.) A particular consideration of the pro-Zionist efforts outside of Jewry; and (III.) The publication of previously unknown literary and archival sources. In accordance with this plan this history begins in the year 1600, although the history of Zionism in reality opened much earlier, even perhaps at the beginning of the Jewish history of the countries dealt with.