This book has its origins in the intensive short courses on scanning elecΒ tron microscopy and x-ray microanalysis which have been taught annually at Lehigh University since 1972. In order to provide a textbook containing the materials presented in the original course, the lecturers collaborated to write the book Practical Scanning Electron Microscopy (PSEM), which was published by Plenum Press in 1975. The course conΒ tinued to evolve and expand in the ensuing years, until the volume of material to be covered necessitated the development of separate introΒ ductory and advanced courses. In 1981 the lecturers undertook the project of rewriting the original textbook, producing the volume ScanΒ ning Electron Microscopy and X-Ray Microanalysis (SEMXM). This volΒ ume contained substantial expansions of the treatment of such basic material as electron optics, image formation, energy-dispersive x-ray spectrometry, and qualitative and quantitative analysis. At the same time, a number of chapters, which had been included in the PSEM volΒ ume, including those on magnetic contrast and electron channeling conΒ trast, had to be dropped for reasons of space. Moreover, these topics had naturally evolved into the basis of the advanced course. In addition, the evolution of the SEM and microanalysis fields had resulted in the develΒ opment of new topics, such as digital image processing, which by their nature became topics in the advanced course.