The study of optics goes back thousands of years. Early reports can be traced to the Ancient Greeks, notably Aristotle and Democritus speculating about vision and Archimedes' famous "burning glass.' The fact that the subject is alive and kicking after so long is evidenced by the explosion in the latter half of the twentieth century of communications, entertainment, manufacturing, and medical applications all based on optics. However, the basic principles of classical optics have not changed in recent years and we have to go back to 1953 to find a Nobel Prize winner in the field (Frits Zernike for the phase contrast microscope). With optics underpinning so much modern technology, the authors believe that there is still a significant need for a basic teaching text in optics. In fact, if anything the need is increasing in many scientific fields and there is no sign that this will change in the coming years. ...